The question with the hypothetical situation is a meteor is about to hit the Earth and you only have 60 minutes left to live, what would you do in that short amount of time…
The survey results showed
- 54% of people in the UK said they would be with or talk on the phone to their loved ones;
- 13% of people agreed to accept the consequences coming with a glass of Champangne;
- 9% chose to spend that time on “sex”;
- 3% sat down to pray;
- 2% said they would eat fatty food that they normally had to abstain from;
- 2% declared they would engage in acts of looting and the rest gave other opinions…
Illustration photo
Have we ever asked ourselves this question?
Indeed, in a fragile and unstable world, any disaster from nature or humans can happen at any time. We cannot be sure what will happen tomorrow and even can’t be certain what will happen to us in the next hour…
Impressed with the survey, I often pose this question to my young colleagues and once I brought this question to a forum of young people on social media and asked them. And then I received many interesting answers…
The majority of young people say they would spend this precious last time with their loved ones or do things that in normal life, although there are many opportunities, they haven’t had a chance to do yet…
I really wonder why the majority of people and even myself, when asked have the same thought of waiting until the last moment to spend this precious time with their loved ones?. Is there anything more valuable than the sacred and ultimate time of our own. That’s enough to express our hearts to our loved ones. No matter how we explain it, it’s easy to see that human relationships are the most important thing, surpassing money, material possessions, and fame in ordinary life… And maybe because people are attracted to and running after the immediate needs of everyday life, they forget the most important thing for themselves, which may come a time when we suddenly no longer have a chance to do…
Then on the train back to the countryside at the end of the year, in the rhythmic sound of the round iron wheels rolling on the railroad tracks. Sitting opposite me was an elderly monk. Taking advantage of the long journey, I started a conversation and asked the monk what he would do in those last 60 minutes… The monk meditated for a while, then tactfully said: “Each of us has very different causes and conditions, if we wait until then it is too late… Why wait until the last moment to wake up, panic and think about what we should do… The realm of Ta Ba is very fragile but beautiful and attractive, not realizing the importance of our present existence… If we know how to enjoy what is happening within us, around us, we will not lose anything… Everything is already here and now, the most important thing of life is nothing else but what is happening… When regularly practicing the presence and enjoyment of life now and here, we will not need to search for anything else and there will be no last moment…”
And at that moment, I looked out the train window. The pure light of a new day was shining down on the peaceful and lush fields… The innocent grains of rice immersed in the early sun. The train was still running noisily, creating winds that swayed the new rice branches on both sides. The rice grains reflected the rays of light, creating beautiful and extraordinary golden lights, a beauty that I had never felt before…
My last 60 minutes to savour a glass of wine. What about you?
“That is the question posed by a Western news agency in a public opinion poll conducted among the British population.”
