Doctor’s Perspective

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I found myself listening to a science program on the BBC here in the US the other evening. When I joined in, the expert was wrapping up a discussion about the heart, about how it works, how it’s designed to work, etc. It was interesting, but what he said in wrapping up is what really stuck with me.

He talked about how the heart is an amazing thing, how by design it simply keeps going, and going, without stop, until the one time when it does stop. He then said, (and I’m paraphrasing from memory here), that the one thing he has come to truly understand as a doctor is that the heart will stop, eventually. You can’t prevent that, all you can do is make the most of the years you have before that happens, make sure those you love know that you do, and hope for a “good” death. (Using Davy Jones’ seemingly painless, quick and in-his-sleep death as an example.)

Of the three, obviously we won’t get to choose the third one, but those other two are entirely up to us. Have you let your loved ones know you love them recently? More importantly, are you making the most of today? We don’t know how many more days we’ll have, and no matter your beliefs on the after-life, we should be doing what we can to make the most of our time here. It will end, eventually, and there will be no chance to go back and do it differently. Might as well do what we can with it now.