For the past year I have watched the rapid physical decline of a loved one subject to the cruel ravages of Mesothelioma. It is poignant, heartbreaking and at times fills me with utter despair watching the final moments of a life being overwhelmed by the pain of such an insidious affliction.
It is moments like these that keenly focus your thinking on individual mortality and the frailty of the human condition. Certainly from this perspective the pursuit of physical perfection embodied in strength sports is exposed for the illusory nature of its offering: from the day we are born the clock commences as does our slow physical degradation.
Recently I listened to a seminar by a renowned social scientist who opined that all human life is a tragedy, that we move from ignorance of mortality in child hood to a deliberate avoidance of this truism in adulthood.
Due to events 3 years ago I am utterly cognisant of the fleeting nature of our existence. I eek out every moment I can understanding the bittersweet oblivion facing us all. Everything we own, have achieved and care about will ultimately fail.
I am not frightened of the end, in fact there is true humanity in embracing the days loving more deeply, embracing tighter smiling in the face of the mundane and ridiculous we are faced with daily.
I love life, I love who I have become. I understand my place in the world and its not defined by my status, wealth or possessions.: they are fleeting. I live each day grateful for the persistence, industriousness and good fortune that placed me exactly at this moment.
Thomo
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