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Wow, another journal entry in such a short time. But I'm cheating again - this one is just a copy-paste entry. It's actually not even mine. I'm stealing what someone else wrote on emailcash.com.au - without permission (my apologies to the author). I just wanted to put it in an entry so I don't forget it. (That's the whole point of this journal, right? ^^)

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What if? by Staffy_Lover
What if you gave birth to a beautiful baby and were told sadly they would only live to be 10-20 years old?

How would this change the way you treated this child? Would you spend every moment you could with them? Would you try to give them the world? Would you treat every moment as special? Would you scold them less and instead, learn to laugh more? Would you let the small stuff go?

How much would it change the way you thought? Would you concentrate more on the love this child brought to you than the naughty things they did? Would you try and give them the best time to make up for the short time? Would you let them be silly – and laugh along with them? Wouldn’t it change your perspective on how much strict education they needed – and how much fun they should have?

Think about it - if you only had 10-20 years – what would you do? How special would you make their life?

Because this is the lifespan of your pet.

The soul of a dog comes to earth with the sole purpose of making our life special. They achieve their purpose in such a short amount of time that they have to return before we want them to.

So let’s work extra hard while they’re here to make their short life as special as they make ours.

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I don't have a pet, but that made me think a lot about the way we live. I've always known the saying "Live as if you were to die tomorrow", but it never had as much significance to me as what this person wrote. Living every day as if it were your last is, for the most part, only good in theory. But the concept of a limited timespan to spend your life, and making someone else's life special, is still true, and in that short passage, it truly applies to everyone.