It's a Wonderful Life

Last week I had a really scary moment at work. On Monday we hired a new delivery driver who was riding with our regular driver, Tony, for training. About 9 am that morning our new driver calls me in a panic and says that Tony passed out and hit his head on the ground. He told me that Tony was conscious now and could speak but looked really pale and disoriented. I asked him where he was and fortunately he was less than a mile from Mission Hospital, so I advised him to take Tony straight to the hospital.

I got to the Hospital within half an hour and checked in with the Emergency Room staff. They told me they that Tony was hooked up to an IV and several monitors but they hadn’t yet figured out what was wrong with him. As I made my way to his room I kept thinking, “Tony is only 26 and such a nice young man, quiet and unassuming, yet very honest and hardworking. I really hope there is nothing seriously wrong with him.” When I got to his room it was a rather surreal scene. Here is this really good and decent young man lying in a hospital bed, with tubes and wires coming out of one arm and his young girlfriend, actually his fiancée Karen, holding on tightly to the other one. It reminded me how short life can be and how precious it truly is.

 

Later on that day as I was driving back to my office I heard an interview on the radio. They were interviewing Irving Kahn, who is one of the top investment bankers on Wall Street, about his current work schedule, the state of the economy and his take on life. The interview was brief because Irving Kahn makes it a habit to be brief. In fact when they asked him what was the one thing he would change to improve the world he said, “People need to use fewer words, be concise and get to the point, because life is short and should not be wasted.” The interview with Irving Kahn was being conducted while he was at work, at the ripe old age of 106.

And that got me thinking….. Whether we are 26 or 106 life is precious and should never be taken for granted…..because if someone who is 106 years old thinks that “life is short” then it must really be short!

    Irving Kahn at 106…. Still working and still enjoying life!

 

 

 

Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.                                      ~ Grandma Moses