DTH

In old age, this kind of rumination can make us feel sad about the future we are going to miss. But that
shouldn’t be the primary emotion we feel at the end of a long life. It should be gratitude. We won a rare
lottery ticket when we were born. There must have been something in our DNA that beat the odds against
fusing the sperm with the egg that made our particular existence possible. Millions did not make it off the
wasteful assembly line in the great reproduction factory of life. We got through. We made it. For that at
least we should be grateful; and even more grateful for the world that received and nurtured us; for the
fact that it was there to receive us. I have known people who have died in a mood of absolute gratitude
for the life they’d had and the love that was given to them. They were sad at leaving the party earlier than
they hoped, but grateful for the good time they’d had while they were there. Their last days became an act
of thanksgiving for what they had received.