I was in NYC last week training with some friends and I saw a sign that said “May 21, 2011”, and right under that date it said “end of the world”. You see a lot of things in New York, I ve seen people pee on cars in broad daylight, a man walk down the street backwards for blocks etc but when you see a sign that is telling you when the world is going to end, it doesn’t matter if you believe in it or not you at least look and give it some thought. So after giving this sign a cursory glance my friends and I talked about it for the next couple of minutes. We discussed all the other human prophets that have predicted the earth’s demise and the people that actual believe that someone on earth knows the exact day when the end will come.
Fast forward to yesterday the day before “the end” and as I walked past the same sign again I heard people around us talking about it. Picking up a conversation in NYC by accident can be an amusing but very dangerous and troubling thing to do, but I couldn’t help but listen in on what the two women were saying. Woman number one was saying “I heard that tomorrow starts the end of the world and five months from now the earth will be destroyed, woman number two responded by saying, “No honey it’s in December.” So obviously it brought some questions to my mind. One was how in the world can people believe this? Two was what would I do if I had twenty-four hours left on this earth? Who would I see? Where would I go? What haven’t I done that I need to do before the end comes?
Think about that. Say for some reason these so called prophets are correct. (which I don’t believe at all) and you have until tomorrow and then the earth is going to spin off its axis, or get hit with a meteor, or get invaded by a worldwide zombie attack (the latter I think I’m a little more prepared for) What would you do? Do you have any regrets? Would you re-connect with that person in your life you’ve been in a 3 year argument with? Would you finally take a day off from work to take your kids to the zoo? I analyzed this question in my head over and over again to the point where I was actually having little arguments with myself mentally. (Maybe I should move to New York) I would say something to myself like, “I d take a jet to England just so I can say I was in Europe and then fly back.” Then I d realize that I don’t have the money to get a private jet, or a friend that has one so I scratched that one off besides that would waste almost half of the twenty four hours I have left.
I would want to see all my immediate family, I would want to see my friends, I would want to tell everyone that I loved them and how much they meant to me. I would fine time to train someone and see the look on his/her face when they get that move down they couldn’t do the day before. I would tell my wife, mom, and siblings that having them in my life was the reason I am the person who is standing before them today. I would call old mentors, I would find my buddy Ray who was my first trainer without knowing it, I would go to my father’s headstone and tell him that I’ll see him one day soon and that I love him.
So as I’m mentally writing this list in my head I’m thinking to myself we only have twenty four hours each day. Out of the twenty four hours not even one second is guaranteed. We have no idea when we won’t be on this earth anymore. So why don’t we do the things that we want to do? Why wouldn’t I tell the people that matter in my life how I feel about them every day? Why can’t I go to my father’s headstone despite my schedule and tell him that I love him? Why does it take an apocalypse for us to utilize the time we do have to reach out to people in our lives and do the things that we’ve always wanted to do? If tomorrow was the end would I really have been able to enjoy the trip to Europe in the stolen private jet that I learned to fly hours before takeoff?
The point is you can do all these things now. I can sacrifice something in my schedule one day for something else if I wanted to. We are all caught up in the rat race. Life is moving so fast that we forget to do all the little things in our lives because “we dont have the time.” Is the only sick day you have on the Mayan calendar? Does it take the end of the world for you to go visit your parents who live one hour away? I realize that in my life I’m around other people every day. There’s not a day that goes by when I’m not working with kids, or with my family, friends etc and I couldn’t see my life any other way. The only time I’m alone is during the mornings when I might go for a run, grab something to eat alone, or my drive home from practice or training sessions.
Now would there be a bunch of things that I wouldn’t be able to do before my twenty four hours were up? Sure, some sane things like going to Europe and some not so sane things like wrestling a bear, or using an invisibility cloak. (Not sure they exist in real life) but my point is make the most out of today and then you won’t have to worry about what’s going to happen tomorrow.
