We are all marked men

Here is an exciting piece I’ve kept for years and found funny. The article is titled: Nine Important Facts to Remember as We Grow Older.

#9. Death is the number one killer in the world.

#8. Life is sexually transmitted.

#7. Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

#6. Men have two motivations: hunger and hanky-panky, and they can’t tell them apart. If you see a gleam in his eyes, make him a sandwich.

#5. Teach a person to use the Internet, and they won’t bother you for weeks, months, or maybe years.

#4. Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in the hospital, dying of nothing.

#3. Weather teaches us a valuable lesson. It pays no attention to criticism.

#2. In the ’60s, people took LSD to make the world weird. Now, the world is funny, and people take Prozac to make it normal.

#1. Life is like a jar of jalapeño peppers. What you do today may be a burning issue tomorrow.

This list was funny to me years ago when I was much younger. But now that I am in my senior years, the humor doesn’t carry quite the same punch.

Ryan Holiday, an author I follow, recently launched his book, Right Thing, Right Now: Good Values, Good Character, Good Deeds, where he talks about Marcus Aurelius. It didn’t matter that Aurelius was powerful and wise, nor that so many people depended on him. It didn’t matter that he maintained the stern, rigorous habits of his youth.

Marcus Aurelius was getting old. Like all of us, he faced the path of time, walking it daily, going only in one direction – away from his younger self, never to return.

In Meditations, we catch Marcus as he comes to terms with this reality. He had always meditated on death (that’s what the practice of memento mori was), but now he was no longer a young man. In fact, he was a marked man.

It’s a painful realization, one too many of us try to deny or distract ourselves from. We push the thought away, fantasize about breakthroughs in medicine, or dream of a fountain of youth. We see others as old, but we? We feel the same as we always have, so we pretend nothing has changed.

Seneca faced a similar shock when he visited his boyhood home. The sight was disappointing, especially the old and dying trees surrounding the house. In his youth, the house had been surrounded by lively, green trees he’d helped plant. That’s when Seneca was hit with an unavoidable truth: they were the same trees from his youth, now nearing the end of their lives – and so was he.

We all face the path of time. We all get older. We are all marked men.

In youth, we may feel invincible. But reality eventually arrives. Some face it with courage and acceptance; others deny it, hiding their fear behind superstitions, like:

• Avoiding the mention of death

• Mirrors in the house

• Carrying charms

• Knocking on wood

• Numerology and death

Fear of numbers like 13 in the West and four in East Asia (due to its phonetic resemblance to the word for death) and shying away from the number “nine” on their birthdays illustrates how numerology is linked to death superstitions.

The wise prepare for this eventuality. They don’t wish to burden their children with unfinished affairs. A responsible leader always plans for such times.

We cannot live fully unless we are at peace with death. Senior Pastor Chad Williams of Union Church of Manila shares a little-known fact about Winston Churchill, who planned his own funeral. After the eulogy and benediction, one person in the eastern tower of St. Paul’s Cathedral plays Taps, and on the opposite side, Reveille/Sunrise, Sunset rings out. “Oh, Happy Days!” indeed.

As the psalmist says: “Lord, teach me to number my days right, that I may gain a heart of wisdom.”

A yellow sticky note pops up on my computer screen every time I log in. It says, “Francis, live each day as if it were the last, because one day, you’ll be right.” This is wise, and I hope you agree.

Francis Kong’s podcast, “Inspiring Excellence,” is now available on Spotify, Apple, Google, and other podcast streaming platforms.