Their lives ended. One minute you’re talking over the intercom to your friend in the other seat in the helicopter,or walking your dog,telling him to get off the tracks, or your telling your wife that you love her, or kicking out off that last wave just a bit closer to shore than you wanted to be ,or blinking the water out of your eyes as you bank hard into the turn on your motorcycle, or stumbling half blind in a shocked God-make it a dream-state away from the Doctors office ,or falling off to sleep after a  very long battle.

Life,no life; just like that.

The author Carlos Castenadas wrote a series of books that centered initially on his mentor, Don Juan Matus.Don Juan was a man at peace with every aspect of his life. Senor Matus had accepted his death,the inevitability of his demise and the simple fact that it could happen at any moment. He lived ,in his words ,”the life of a warrior” .A warrior, in the sense that life could end and so why not live life as if you had an hour or a minute or a moment. His belief relieved Don Juan of all the burdens we carry through our too short lives.

Worry, Why? Love ,but know that you cannot make someone love you. With life about to end would you spend your last moments bothering to be petty, peevish, resentful ,angry, cruel, rude or any of a thousand things that none of us would want to be remembered for?

Those feelings and actions were unnecessary to Don Juan. Don Juan attained the unattainable and in so doing set an impossible goal for the rest. So, is it enough that I make it a goal for my life as well,knowing for certain that I will die in the attempt ? I can’t worry.