My Life ... a Game of Dart !!!

Some of my close friends and family members have asked me this question time and again ...

Why do you always seem to be in a hurry ? Why not relax and enjoy your weekends/holidays instead of constantly learning or blogging or volunteering ???

My response has always been to smile and ignore that question.

But recently, it made me to pause and ponder - why do they think am not relaxing and enjoying ???

My behavior probably comes from my perspective based on the following two very important questions that me ask myself:

1. What is the probability that me will be alive tomorrow ?
2. What is the purpose of my life on this Earth ?

So, on the first question: We all are born on this Earth with an Expiration date. Our lives are like the Game of Dart. Each morning we are given a chance to throw a dart on a spinning dart board which has two parts - ALIVE and DEAD. If the dart lands on ALIVE, we get to live and carry on with our business for the day. The same happens every night as well. In reality, it is happening every second, whether we realize it or not.

Just to put things in perspective, our probability of being ALIVE is 0.5 (or 50%) in an ideal situation. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect ideal world. Alas, we live in a world with many uncertainties and our probability of being ALIVE dwindles quickly to about 0.4 (or 40%).

Just for giggles, observe the data from the following table and add up the probabilities and you will arrive at that conclusion ...

Given the fact that we throw the dart every second and it has landed on ALIVE thus far is a pretty darn good luck and our chance to live one more day on this Earth.

Now, on to the second question: We humans are homo-sapiens with an innate desire to help others. Imagine you are walking down a street and some person trips and falls on the ground. What is the natural human instinct ??? We lunge forward to help the fallen person. Think about it in a broad sense - when we raise a family, we are nurturing and helping the family members, in a community where we live, we are helping our friends and neighbors, at work we are helping each other, the list goes on and on ... When we look at it from a philosophical lens, it becomes clear that we are here on this Earth for just one mission and purpose - lending our hand to help others and change the world around us in a positive way.

Pretty much all the resources on this Earth are scarce and in limited supply, except for one thing. The one thing that is available in abundance is one's Knowledge. The more we learn, the more we grow, and the more we can give and share ... This reminds me of the famous Chinese proverb:

Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime

That is the power of knowledge !!! One can grow knowledge without limits though continuous exploration and learning.

Now you are probably getting a sense of where am going with this ... our lives are unpredictable and we have no control on where the dart will land on the spinning dart board the next time around ... My belief is that through continuous learning, sharing, and volunteering, we can make small meaningful contributions, which can have a positive impact on the lives of others, and allow us to fulfill a meaningful purpose till our expiration date on this Earth.

Hence the urgency ... time cannot be wasted on mundane and trivial things ... for the dart we throw the next time may land on the other part of the spinning dart board !!!