What if you had only one year to live?

    “What if you had only one year to live?” What a depressing thought! I was asked this question on my general class this week. The question may sound kind of ridiculous; however, it is actually inspiring that it stimulates us to redefine what important things in our life are. Let’s just say, solely for argument’s sake, you were told that your days were numbered and you only had a year left. What would you do? Who would you spend time with? What would you change? How would you live your last year? These questions are in fact hard to answer.

     
     Some people say that it may be much easier to answer if we change “one year” to “one day,” for “one year” is neither short nor long. Most of my interviewers hesitated for a while before they started to answer the question, but I still got some critical conclusions from their responses. Things which they want to do in a year are not quite the same, but there are some common motivations. Firstly, people tend to think of what they have been putting off. For instance, conversations needed to have, adventures wanted to take, or places desired to visit. Secondly, they want to know how others score the way and the attitude they lived. They want to know if they are courageous or inspiring to others. They want to know what will be their legacy. Last but not least, everyone wondered what difference they want to make with their life over the next year. It is not only what we want that matters; it is the result and the influence.  

     
     For a both inspiring and moving example, consider Randy Pausch, the Professor at Carnegie Mellon who was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2007. His “last lecture” video is a great example of how he answered all of these questions before he died. He interviewed others and got new ideas from them; he led each day positively with love and hope. I believe that if we could keep living 12 months like this, we’ll not only have a life full of inspiration, but a life that inspires countless others along the way. Briefly to say, life’s too short, so why not lead every day to our perfect as the last day.