We live but a few minutes on this earth compared to the span of all of
humankind. We have great expectations for those few minutes; make the world
a better place, enrich others lives, raise our young (ours and others), be
endearing. But only a few minutes really isn't enough time to do it all to
any great effect. We've got to be happy with our lot in life and then
again, we don't. We spend much of our life in between these 2 states. We
seek to make the world better for being here and at the same time we're
learning to accept what we've been given to work with.

Combine with this the mundane day to day routine of getting up and going to
work, commuting, cleaning the dishes, moving the furniture, unpacking the
groceries, and you have the big picture. Here we are, this is our
life. What's for dinner? What time do I set the alarm for? I think I need to clean the
windows.

Death comes knocking, shrinking our participation with people one by one
until those that are most successful, those of us who live a long time, are
left alone. Living long is not for the weak of heart. We will outlive our
pets many lives over. We will outlive our parents, our mentors and our
teachers. If we are really successful we will outlive our friends, our
siblings, and all of those we love the most. Wishing someone a long life is
really a curse. We have to endure a life that's lived long as much as we
have to somehow reconcile our shortcomings and still find peace and a reason
to smile. The passing of a friend tells us seriously; "Prepare for a long
life but don't expect it to happen."

So we grieve. It's a selfish act; grievance. We think of how we're going to
miss the person that passed. We think of how empty our lives are without
that person. How will we go on without their voice on the phone, their
cute innuendos, their soft sighs or strong words. We think about us when
the other person passes. We grieve for our loss even though we really are
the ones stuck holding out against the onslaught of time - unforgiving time
that will one day take us too, sweeping us away after our perceived few minutes of
life.

We can hope that others will grieve our loss. We can hope that we don't
live so long as to be useless or an imposition and that we are still loved
when we go. It's a small desire but we have to work for it. We have to
spend time in life making the world better in what ways we can. We need to
be happy (to the best of our ability) with our lot in life so we can be an
asset to our friends. That sometimes means we have to tell them we don't
agree with their actions. It sometimes means we have to be the voice of
reason, and the news is not always well received at first. But over the
course of time we have to live with our words after our loved ones are gone.
That is the burden of living long. We have to live with what we have said. Those
that pass sure aren't going to have use for our words anymore.

The lucky really die young. The flame that burns twice as bright burns only
half as long. The long lived, methodical, careful, reasonable people burn
their lives carefully and watch those bright flames go out around them.
Maybe it's the lucky people that live life to it's fullest and are gone in a
flash. Maybe this long lived, carefully prescribed life is just a life of
increasing pain, increasing toil, and withering dreams? Why should we have
to endure, when some of those we've loved have gone so quickly, often
choosing death at their own will?

It goes back to what our lives are about. We live long because we are doing
good; making the world better in any way we can, every day trading our lot
in life with the greater good we can produce.  We enjoy life - the warm hugs, the sun on our faces, the cool air breeze on a hot day.   Many loved ones will pass during the course of our lives.  But we live on with the belief that there is more to be happy for in our lives.  Then we get up the next day and we go see if that is true.