Thang Nguyen 555

I have just heard that someone I know died.

Like a sorority sister who is last in line to get married, I immediately make that connection: “am I next?”

A school principal knew that he had five years to run his school, then retirement.

It’s good to know how much is left in the gas tank versus the distance to be traveled.

Simple math.

There is no living on borrowed time.

(or else, there would be “banks” to charge nifty fees for these services).

Just plastic surgery.

And life support system.

I knew this years ago.

And I did it “my way” i.e. turning the Maslow scale on its head (self-actualize first, while living on peanut butter sandwiches).

I saw a priest and a nun greet us on Subic Bay with a sandwich and a coke: I turned around a few years later to do this unto others.

I saw a boat dock in Saigon river to give or sell discount English books: I volunteered to do the same to West African countries.

There is no debate when it comes to returning someone’s kindness. My turn.

In sales, we call this reciprocity need (Influence by Cialdini).

Let’s say that the Christian premise be proven true, the least one can do is to reciprocate God’s sacrifice by: staying alive, living productive life and dying each day to

“the flesh”, which is withering away anyway.The party goers would agree on action item number one, and disagree with the last one. Because the body is dying, they think we should party it out, because life is too short.

Same premise, different conclusion.

When it comes to my turn to lay down, I plan to have no regret.

I have lived a life which raises my brother’s eye brows too many times.

And when I work, often times, I raise my boss’ eye brows as well. Same guy, same intensity.

As the saying goes, there are three types of people: those who wait for it to happen, those who make it happen, and those who ask “what happened?”.

We all have our expiration date. On this Easter day, let’s appreciate the temporariness of our lives and use it as a springboard to a must-exist next life where things will

definitely are better, more desirable and suitable with the Augustinian longing for eternity all along planted inside each of us.