Who Will Cry When You Die?

The last two weeks have been intense.

On a national scale, of course you had the deaths of MJ and Farrah.

On a personal level, my father in law has been in the hospital. A woman who was like a 2nd mother to my wife passed on after a long, courageous fight with cancer. I caught word that a business associate, a guy I interviewed with for a job a few years back, had a motorcycle accident and died at the age of 48.

48!?!?

And that's just my little corner of the world. Death has been all around. But then again, it always is. It seems to be in the spotlight these last few weeks, thanks mostly to the sensationalism of MJ's death. (I mean, the guy's funeral is going to be in the LA Staples Center of all places!)

In watching one of the non-stop news memorials on MJ, I was struck by the number of people who were absolutely bawling uncontrollably at the news that he was gone.

It made me think a few things. One, to each their own, but I can't imagine being that torn up over a death of a person that I had never met. I shed some tears when Johnny Cash died. I imagine I would if something happened to Bono, Steve Nash or President Obama (now there's a trio!). But for the most part, I can't imagine getting that worked up over someone who I only knew through watching them on TV or the Interwebs.

Now, somebody I know and love...that's a different matter entirely.

Which brought me to my second thought: Who will cry when you die? That's the name of an incredible book by one of my favorite authors, Robin Sharma.

It's also a powerful thought. What do you and I need to accomplish to make our short life here on Earth count? Who are the people we want to become, so that when we pass from this life into the next, tears on Earth are shed from the people that we've helped - just as tears of joy in Heaven are shed as we're welcomed into Eternity.

So that's what's on my mind.

Who will cry when you die?

Who do you think? Who is it for you?

Thought o' the Day - Appreciation

"If you appreciate the sunrise, it will become a more valuable part of your life, and you'll attach more worth to it. If you appreciate your friends, their friendship will go up in value, and it will be worth more to you. If you appreciate your good health, it will become more valuable in your life, and you'll see it as being more important."
- Taken from The Saint, The Surfer and The CEO, by Robin Sharma

If you are like me, you are so fed up with the doom and gloom reporting going on in the media today. Sure, there are major problems facing us individually and collectively as a country. But I definitely detect a Chicken Little "sky is falling" bent to most of the news reports I'm hearing.

So, more than ever, I've been turning off the news and listening/reading things that are uplifting. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to just stick my head in the sand and pretend that problems don't exist. But like Abe Lincoln says, "A man is about as happy as he makes his mind up to be." There's definitely a point where wallowing in negativity and pessimistic news items becomes counterproductive.

Which is why the quote at the top of this post was so meaningful to me. I am re-reading Robin Sharma's masterful book The Saint The Surfer and the CEO. The quote I pulled and shared here with you is really spot-on in so many ways. Sure the economy is in the tank and things are really tight for so many of us. But we can all be thankful that we are rich in ways that have nothing to do with money. Good friends. Good health. A loving God that provides through good times and bad. Now that's something worth appreciating.