Live Well, Fight Well, Die Well

In the last few days, I have heard of the passing of several people and I am constantly reminded of the brevity of life. One person died from an accident, another suffered a stroke, three dropped dead possibly from heart attacks and that was just in one week.

All these pieces of news are unavoidable and lately they seem to come hard and fast with no one immune regardless of status. We hear of the homeless person passing in much the same way as we hear of a celebrity passing on a weekly basis.

During a recent trip to my local market, I stopped to ask a young man on the vegetable counter about his father. He corrected me and said the man was his boss and not his dad; he added that he had suffered a massive stroke and was still in hospital. This is a man who looked fit and well, not over weight and I spoke to him every couple of weeks. Again this news was completely unexpected.

We hear of healthy people dropping dead almost at the same rate as those we would self-diagnose and term ‘unhealthy’.

Sadly none of us has the power to determine many things or when death will come knocking seeing as it is an inevitable part of the cycle of life. So what can we do?

We must live well

We must choose to live our best life every day that we have breathe in us. And this means not living in fear or under the shadow of death. We must live well by embracing life, nature, friendships, relationships, hope, joy and love.

We must live as though death will never come, live with a mission and with intentionality. We must live with a goal to make our mark on humanity and someday leave this world with no stones unturned.  

We must fight well

Throughout our life’s journey, we will have times when we need to fight and when that happens, we must fight well. This can be after a scary diagnosis, a health crisis, financial crisis, job loss, or after the loss of a partner, child or parent.

Some people are battling depression and other emotional challenges that threaten to overwhelm them but again, they must make a choice to fight well. This will involve getting through some days easier than other days but fighting well must include us not beating ourselves down on the not so great days.

I have a lot of respect for a former colleague who has battled cancer for many years. From the moment they got the diagnosis, we could tell their determination to not go down without a fight. And from that they have fought for legislation to be changed so others will be able to access life saving treatments. Even as they faced their own battles, they fought well enough to make a difference and I am pleased that the person is still fighting with hope and determination.

We must die well

As death is inevitable, we only have a say in how we prepare to die. For me dying well means we are ready for death when it comes because we would have lived and fought well.

We would have lived for the things that truly matter, we would have cared for others, we would have built trees to provide shades for others, and we would have lived a life of minimal regrets. We would have shared our tables with others and made our tables longer to accommodate even more people.

We would have lived our lives not just for ‘specific’ others or as others would have wanted us to live it. We would have lived for a greater purpose and good that benefits more than the handful of those who are directly related to us.

We would have fought well by not shying away from the battles that are intended to make us stronger and build our characters. We would have fought for the ideas that are worth saving, fought for humanity and for the world to be a better place by the choices we make and the actions that we take.   

In living well, we would have prepared to die well. In closing I want to share a poem by Edmund Vance Cooke.

How Did You Die? By Edmund Vance Cooke

Did you tackle that trouble that came your way

With a resolute heart and cheerful?

Or hide your face from the light of day

With a craven soul and fearful?

Oh, a trouble’s a ton, or a trouble’s an ounce,

Or a trouble is what you make it,

And it isn’t the fact that you’re hurt that counts,

But only how did you take it?

You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what’s that?

Come up with a smiling face.

It’s nothing against you to fall down flat,

But to lie there — that’s disgrace.

The harder you’re thrown, why the higher you bounce;

Be proud of your blackened eye!

It isn’t the fact that you’re licked that counts,

It’s how did you fight — and why?

And though you be done to the death, what then?

If you battled the best you could,

If you played your part in the world of men,

Why, the Critic will call it good.

Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce,

And whether he’s slow or spry,

It isn’t the fact that you’re dead that counts,

But only how did you die?

Thanks for reading my post. Have an awesome week ahead. Remember to live and fight well each day you are blessed to be alive.