nothing is worth more than this day

It was a sad weekend in our household. My roommate’s cat, which she’s had for 5 years, suddenly passed away. We don’t know the cause and will likely never know. The cat (Nola) was perfectly healthy and just that morning we had been playing with her. A few hours later, she suddenly fell on her side and that was that. It was rather surreal. We took her to the animal hospital, but of course, there was nothing they could do.

My roommate is understandably upset. Some people might think - it’s only a cat, but I think pet owners would understand. You form attachments in inexplicable ways and it’s always difficult to have to let go, especially when it’s unexpected.

Death is a funny thing. It’s an inevitable ending to life, and yet we struggle so hard to prevent it from happening to ourselves and our loved ones. We are devastated when all our power can’t stop it, as if we think this time it will be different than it was for countless creatures before us. Even modern medicine is based on this fear of death.

There is, however, one way to overcome death - being present in the moment. It seems like such a cliche to say “live each day as if it were your last”, but we often forget how powerful we are in the present moment. We can shape this moment however we want, and what we do and think in the here and now is completely under our control. We might die in the next moment, but in the current one, we can be incredibly and indelibly alive.