I actually like cutting my grass. Not the act of grass cutting, but I like the way the yard looks when it’s all done and, more importantly, the fact that I have about 90 minutes to ride around listening to music and thinking. It’s some of the most productive time I have to solve all the world’s problems (well, at least if I ran the world, anyway).
Even though I’ve heard my entire 3,000-song playlist many times, sometimes a song will stick in my head and make me think a little more. That happened recently with Diamond Rio’s song, “One More Day.” The singer shares what he would ask for if he were granted any wish. In the lyrics, he says he wouldn’t ask for money or a mansion in Malibu; he simply wishes for “one more day with you.” The chorus of the song goes like this: “One more day / One more time / One more sunset / Maybe I’d be satisfied / But then again / I know what it would do / Leave me wishing still for one more day with you.”
It’s actually a very sad song as he goes on to say he would unplug the telephone, keep the TV off, hold onto every second, and say a million “I love you’s.” As a lot of things do, it started me thinking. As much as every one of us knows that our time on earth could end at any moment, we still feel that it’s always far in the future and we neither say nor do the things that could alleviate regret in our final moments. Reportedly, singer David Cassidy’s last words to his estranged daughter were, “So much wasted time.”
What if you lived today as if it were that last day? Who would you want to speak to and what would you say? Where would you go and what would you do?
Mark Campbell
So why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we attend funerals thinking about all the things we should have said or done? And what would our lives be like if we did not have those regrets? I came to realize that we have the power to change that right here and now. What if you lived today as if it were that last day? Who would you want to speak to and what would you say? Where would you go and what would you do? What would it take so that when you are ready to draw your last breath, you could look back with peace knowing you had no regrets? And the best part? It would not be your last day. You would likely wake up again tomorrow and could live that day again and again. If you do live your life that way, you are truly blessed, but I think you may be in the extreme minority.
I don’t always have a conscious thought about why I might have chosen a particular topic for these articles until later, and such was the case this time. Yes, it was influenced by hearing the song I mentioned, but as I sat down to finish this and turned on the television, I realized that it was Sept. 11. Many stations were running documentaries about one of the most horrific days in American history, and it made me realize that maybe subconsciously, the memory of such a tragedy might have sparked my need to speak to this issue. The nearly 3,000 people who perished that day could never have imagined that most would never have the chance to say goodbye. My sincere wish for all of you is that you seize the opportunity to keep that from happening to you. Life is so precious and short, but we can make it whatever we want it to be. Make it count!
Mark Campbell owns Prestige Photography in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Tags: creative
