Walter Kish

I am writing this on New Year’s Day 2003, and normally, my thoughts would be preoccupied with the future – with dreams, hopes and plans for the coming year. Circumstances over the holidays however, have caused my thoughts to turn in a completely different direction. Last week I went to the funeral of the husband of an old family friend and my one-time Ukrainian schoolteacher. This week, I will be attending another funeral – that of an old friend with whom I grew up and shared my school-age years.

All deaths are sad and tragic events to the survivors, even more so if the individual in question is a contemporary. Throughout our busy lives, we go about our daily affairs with scarcely a thought about our mortality and the possibility of our own demise. It is only as we get into the so-called "twilight" of our designated years, or when someone close to us passes on, that we are forced to confront the fact that someday, we too, shall make that final transition into the hereafter.

This ultimate prospect elicits a wide range of responses from different people. To some, the very thought of death is frightening, a thought best avoided, ignored or denied. To others, particularly those suffering acute physical or mental distress, it may be a welcome relief from a life no longer perceived as worth living. To most, it is a sad but unavoidable reality that we must strive to avoid as long as possible. As Dylan Thomas said in one of his most famous poems,

"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

My own five decades worth of experience on this earth has led me to conclude that the only truth about death, if there can be said to be one, is that those who have led a productive and fruitful life, have no fear or regret about dying. Whether we believe in an afterlife or not, the essence of being at peace when we face our ultimate fate, is determined by how we have invested our time while we have been blessed with this gift of life. Has our life made a positive difference to humanity and posterity? Have we made a tangible contribution to the quality and betterment of life on this planet? Have we developed our skills and talents to their ultimate potential? Have we created something of value, either in a physical, artistic or aesthetic sense? Have our lives made a beneficial impact on the lives of others?

These questions, though simple in construct, form the basis of much of our civilization’s philosophical, spiritual and religious teachings. Yet, sad to say, they are questions that we spend too little time considering as we tackle the stresses and challenge of modern day living.

Not many of us have either the mental discipline, the creative intellect or the spiritual strength to be a Socrates, a Leonardo da Vinci, a Taras Shevchenko, an Abraham Lincoln, an Albert Einstein, a Mother Theresa or a Nelson Mandela. Yet, all of us, in our own small individual ways can make a difference in making our particular corner of the world a better place to live in. Although it is the great figures in history such as those mentioned above that may get all the fame and attention, in reality, it is the combined efforts of all the unknown and recognized people of a particular time, place or circumstance that cause civilization to move forward.

The worst thing we can do as individuals is to simply sit back and go along for the ride. Our lifespan on this earth may be constrained to some seventy odd years, but those are enough to provide us with an ample opportunity to live, learn, create, build, develop and accomplish something of consequence. It may be a great work of art, a scientific discovery, another Taj Mahal, or it may be the rescue of a lost soul, the raising of a responsible, well-adjusted child, or the support of a cultural organization that makes a difference to the lives of a community. Those that coast through life and take without giving something back, inevitably reach the end of their lives unfulfilled and looking back on lost and wasted opportunity.

As you look forward to this coming year, give a thought as to how you can best make use of your life so that when it is your time to go, people will remember you as one whose life made a real difference, and whose passing will be sorely missed.