“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

What if one week, 168 hours, was all that was left of your life. What would you do differently than you are doing now? Are there amends you would make with estranged family or friends?

Would you spend it hiking a well-worn trail through an old-growth forest? Compose an opus for the generations, paint a masterpiece or write a biography of your life and times?

Much has been written about the impermanence of life. Love ballads, songs of sorrow for missing times and people. Grand epics, from The Lord of the Rings to Asimov’s Robot series; Shakespeare’s Othello to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. Would you teach a language or craft to underprivileged youth, or volunteer to work in a food bank?

The saying “youth is wasted on the young” may be true in the respect that we have no foreknowledge of the impermanence of life when we are becoming who we are, whether it is who we are ‘meant’ to be or who we become as a consequence of our life experiences.

Jot your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading.

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