Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Should We Live Only For Today?

I don't know for sure what Scottish poet Robert Burns actually thought about this questions after his plow accidentally destroyed the home of a field mouse which had to scramble for its life.


But, he did compare the incident to how easily man's plans can be quickly disrupted despite our careful planning. And many persons throughout history, including Albert Einstein sand the pleasure-oriented Epicureans of the Middle East during  the time of Jesus  believe that planning for the future was of little use.


The mantra of the Epicureans was "Live for today for tomorrow we shall die,"  or words to that effect -- an idea or philosophy which is alive and well today in the minds of  many persons.




And of course for millions of people in Africa and other parts of the world the whole thing has nothing to do with pleasure their only focus is on getting enough to eat to help themselves and their loved try and live each day they endure.  Planning for the future could easily seem like a waste of time for these people


But still, to the extent that we can, making plans for tomorrow as well as living for today can help us to avoid many devastating incidents in life -- especially since sudden natural and other disasters ( such as the wildfires,  hurricanes, and drought conditions in the U.S. as well as the country-wide  electrical blackouts in India and Pakistan today)  look more and more like the new normal throughout the world.


So how are your plans for tomorrow coming along? Do you have a survival kit put together yet?  Do you have a "safe room" in  your house -- complete with a good lockable door and a charged cell phone and other supplies, including a rope ladder to climb out a window  which be easily stored under a bed to in case the danger to your family is caused by some intruder (or fire)  when you're not there?


Such advance planning, even if we do find ourselves like Robert Burns' mouse can still help  us to escape a disaster. 

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