Life Without Regrets

I read a book today entitled Chasing Daylight by Eugene O'Kelly, the former CEO of the big accounting firm KPMG, given to me by my son and daughter-in-law.  It is O'Kelly's personal account of his diagnosis of terminal brain cancer in 2005 and the impact it had upon how he lived his remaining days.

In his own words the author described how he made a decision to turn his approaching death into as positive an experience as possible for himself and his loved ones.  With a prognosis of only 3 to 6 months remaining he had only a little while to transform his life from that of a 24/7 CEO who constantly planned for the future to that of a man who must make the most of each fleeting day.

One of O'Kelly's regrets was that he had spent so much time - decades, in fact - apart from his family tending to business, under the presumption that someday he and his wife would retire to a dream home in Arizona where they would delight in visits from the children and grandchildren.

It was not to be.

It reminded me of the parable told by Christ of the rich man who worked only to build wealth for himself so that he might take life easy with no worries for the future.  When the man reached the pinnacle he had set as his goal (CEO?), his life was demanded of him.  All he had worked so hard to obtain was to become the property of someone else.  He would not live to enjoy it.

O'Kelly's account of how knowledge of his pending death changed his life is admirable.   But wouldn't it have been wonderful if this change had occurred earlier?  To go back and attend the children's plays and birthday parties and sporting events and anniversaries that were sacrificed for the sake of business?

The subtitle to O'Kelly's book is How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life.  The thought applies to all of us, right now, because we all face the same conclusion in this world.

I think it's time for a little transformation.