If today was your last day

The band Nickelback has a song out called “If Today Was Your Last Day“. And as you can guess from the title it pushes on wondering about our lives. If today was your end date; your expiration date; your sell-by date; if today was the day you were going to die … what would you say about your life? About the hyphen that is between:

Born on – Died on

Well today was the last day for a cousin of mine. He was 29 and he died today. Don’t know why or how yet. But I was close to him. And it made me feel cold and the winds are bitter today. It made me look a little deeper into what I’m doing with my hyphen. He was young … but we are all young until we’re not. He was strong … but we are all strong until we’re not. He was full of life … but we are all full of life until we’re not.

Being close to someone who has no more days left to make changes: No more days to do something amazing: No more days to create a brilliant hyphen is a very powerful experience.

So the question I ask you:

“What did you do today; this week; this month; this year; that made your hyphen more brilliant?”

If you really can’t answer that, then I challenge you to do something about it tomorrow. Get mad, get angry, get passionate … do something brilliant before the day that comes when today is your last day.

See you on the wire

- Steven Cardinale

Mar 16, 2009