A client of mine recently stopped by my office
"to get his affairs in order". He had just had major
surgery and now another serious tumor had been
found. His life had been hard, because (like most of
us) he had made some choices that caused pain and
heartache.
When I saw him that day, I didn't think about the bad choices. I thought about what he was feeling and how those around him were feeling. Whenever I know someone is dying, that ultimate fact changes the way I look at them. My attitude changes and becomes more forgiving and tolerant to their faults. Even if I don't love the person, I still can feel compassion for their situation.
But aren't we all dying? I am dying. Someday! But if I knew that my wife, or one of my children or grandchildren, or a close friend were dying soon, I am sure that I would treat that person differently. I would be kinder, more forgiving, more understanding.
As a Christian, wouldn't we live a better life if we looked at every person as if they were dying? I have learned that the most important things in life, are the most easily delayed or forgotten. That visit, that phone call, that letter, merely staying in contact, are pushed aside by the unimportant things in life. Maybe we would not let these things be pushed aside if we remembered we are all dying.
Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end;
Yet days go by, and weeks rush on,
And before I know it a year is gone.
And I never see my old friend's face,
For life is a swift and terrible race.
He knows I like him just as well
As in the days when I rang the bell
And he rang mine. We were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men;
Tired with playing a foolish game,
Tired with trying to make a name.
"Tommorow", I say, "I will call on Jim,
Just to show I am thinking of him".
But tomorrow come--and tomorrow goes,
And the distance between us grows and grows
Around the corner--yet miles away…
"Here's a telegram, sir…"
Jim died today.
And that's what we get and deserve in the end:
Around the corner, a vanished friend.
(Charles Hanson Towne, in Poems that Touch the Heart, adapted from June 2005 "Pulpit Helps")