After an entire life of dreaming, fulfilling dreams, becoming educated, trained, working at a fulfilling career, making innumerable friendships, given great responsibility, having countless opportunities for growth and improvement and seeing many countries of our world, I find myself blessed.
Did I always live life, truly live it? I am not convinced that I have. I spent a lot of days and weeks getting life done. I probably theorized that the best use of my time was the work I did and the tasks I completed. I learned to become a stellar organized man, and effective administrator. Christine often reminded me to be more spontaneous. Perhaps I am being too hard on myself in this assessment yet I realize now that the best use of my time requires that I know what is most important and then give myself to that.
The lesson was reinforced on Thursday evening when I watched a reality TV show called “Live for the Moment.” This premiere episode featured a family of four, a husband Roger Childs, and his wife and two young sons. We learned that Roger is suffering from ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease). Customarily this disease that degenerates the body is sufficient reason to cast the sufferer into a permanent funk. Roger, however, came to terms with the truth that he would not live long and he determined to live the time he had to its fullest and to help his family make this time rich with memories. Roger chose to have his family embark upon his bucket list of adventures. In stepped a TV network and host Jeff Probst of ‘Survivor’ fame and the network’s funds to finance the realization of Roger’s many interests and dreams. For an hour my emotions were increasingly challenged as I followed Roger and his family to NASA and a shuttle launch, then an exhilarating ride in a fast jet powered L39 Albatross, then a reunion with a college room mate and a heli-ski experience and finally a reunion with long lost friends and family. This culmination revealed a Roger Childs ALS Research Fund, and $80,000 college scholarship for his boys and he was made an honorary aircraft Commander.
Of course Roger’s lesson to us all was that living life is about the small moments and keeping perspective that's important. If there is something you want to do, don’t delay. Do it.
All the while that I was personalizing this lesson I was also thinking about my friends Paul and Zabeth Bayne and the uphill battle they wage daily to fulfill their dreams and interests. They don’t have the option of spontaneity. They must be 100% committed to one thing and only one thing. They must do all they can do in the preparation of their case together with lawyer Doug Christie, to convince a Judge in a court of law, that not only are they fit parents, but also that the Ministry of Children and Family Development in British Columbia has erred in its seizure of the Bayne children and in their custody of the children for well over two years. When the gavel comes down sometime this spring, those three children must be awarded back to Zabeth and Paul. That is the moment for which they are living. That is the compelling perspective and the most important goal of their lives. Only when that happens will they truly begin to live.
photo credit: CBS
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