Reiteration of our advancing age gets us nowhere

A close relative had been harping on his age factor. He had often made out he was 79 and he would be 80 soon. 

I wrote to him.  

As the moments in our lives race ahead, it is the plain indication to us and everyone around that we are growing old. No escape from that. Reiteration of our advancing age gets us nowhere. What matters is how you have lived your life and how you are living it. 

You can live and create no impact in the lives of others or of your own brethren and go away unsung and unheard. Or you can sacrifice and work or nudge  to make a difference in the lives of others. When you are helping others you are helping yourselves as the goodwill you create, quite unknowing to the self raises you up to unimaginable levels.

You'll be 79 today, this moment. A moment after that it'll be 79 plus that moment. 

Growing old is no crime nor a big achivement. It is the Grace of God that blesses you to live in the land of the living. 

Our Mummy, Thankamma to some, Thankochamma to some, and your mother to some, left us when she was 50. We did fight to keep her here. But no way we could hold on to her. 

Papa, Babychayan to some, Baby to some, Chacko to some, Chackochan to some and again your father to some, lived on as a widower for almost 30 years. He left two months and five days after turning 91.

To us, they left an imprint. To us, they left behind pleasant memories with all those whom they had touched, inclusive of strangers.

Forgive me for being subjective. 

But setting an example by our own lives is the finest legacy we can leave behind. We have time on our hand to probe and make amends.

Recap of what we have seen or we have experienced hitherto, and the unknown facets of history when conveyed to others, helps everyone else too to connect to their own invisible or submerged past. 

We live in the present. But the past is never irrelevant.