One day, you will probably know it’s your last cigarette, or the last time you’re going to do something, maybe get drunk, or shout at your wife… life has a way of letting you know, by itself, without strenuous action on your part. It may be sudden, or more usually you may have a sense or premonition a few days ahead… but the time will come.
I like to think that we have a certain life quota of these things, and we gradually use it up, as if it were a debit account at a bank. We’ve certainly heard of the parable of the talents, and how each of us is started off with a certain amount to our credit. I like to think that this applies even to bad habits or self-indulgence… we eat and eat greasy food, and one day we just don’t want to any more. We rush around madly to places and people, but again one day we know we’re not going to be doing that any more. I like to think that one day cigarettes will quite suddenly lose their hold over you, because you’ve just finished your life’s quota!
When you see a loved one not giving up some habit, therefore, I think you should not fret too much… the day will come when they would have run through their life’s entitlement of that particular form of self-coddling, and you don’t really have to do much, except safeguard them from life-threatening situations!
There is a book of the Bible which goes by the name of The Preacher, or Ecclesiastes, which has one of the most beautiful and haunting lyrical passages in the wisdom literature of the world: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”
It goes on like this, enough to make you weep; but the ultimate message is, why do you labor in vain when God knows everything and will bring it all together… Suffice it to say, in the limited context of this piece, that all things come to an end, including the smokes and the booze that is your lot in life!
I like to think that we have a certain life quota of these things, and we gradually use it up, as if it were a debit account at a bank. We’ve certainly heard of the parable of the talents, and how each of us is started off with a certain amount to our credit. I like to think that this applies even to bad habits or self-indulgence… we eat and eat greasy food, and one day we just don’t want to any more. We rush around madly to places and people, but again one day we know we’re not going to be doing that any more. I like to think that one day cigarettes will quite suddenly lose their hold over you, because you’ve just finished your life’s quota!
When you see a loved one not giving up some habit, therefore, I think you should not fret too much… the day will come when they would have run through their life’s entitlement of that particular form of self-coddling, and you don’t really have to do much, except safeguard them from life-threatening situations!
There is a book of the Bible which goes by the name of The Preacher, or Ecclesiastes, which has one of the most beautiful and haunting lyrical passages in the wisdom literature of the world: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”
It goes on like this, enough to make you weep; but the ultimate message is, why do you labor in vain when God knows everything and will bring it all together… Suffice it to say, in the limited context of this piece, that all things come to an end, including the smokes and the booze that is your lot in life!
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