Three-Quarters Dead…Huh? What the hell does that mean? Well, the title simply announces an estimation of how dead I currently am. The average life expectancy for a woman in the U.S. is approximately 81 years. So far, I’ve lived three-quarters of that number, which means I’m about 75% dead with 25% of life left. It’s sort of like looking at the glass of water and deciding it’s half-empty or half-full. Seeing it as half-empty implies you’re a negative pessimist. If you see it as half-full, you’re a positive optimist.
Most aging people would be more inclined to look to the future, and how much time they have left. They base this on their past. They remember good feelings and try to recapture them. They dwell on fun vacations, long-gone relationships, and “simpler times, in hopes of experiencing them again. While giving copious amounts of time to their pasts, the future slowly erodes, one day at a time.
I, on the other hand, prefer to consider my past dead, as it only has the life I give it, and even then it’s not actual life our memories offer, but rather a vast collection of dim and misconstrued emotions that have the power to lull us into believing they are real. Like a large oak branch that is diseased three-quarters down from its tip, we lop off the dead wood to prevent the rot from spreading into the remaining healthy quarter. By removing what the branch no longer needs, the remainder stays active and now has a chance to grow new leaves.
Who knew the title of this awesome new book could have such philosophical meaning? I believe that the aging process, whether it’s our own aging, or that of our elderly parents, needs to be reconsidered outside of the messages bombarding us through the media, the medical profession, and the social mores surrounding us. Only YOU can know your truth. Experience your life, minute by minute, because the past is dead, and the future but a dream.