It matters not how diverse we as a people make ourselves in terms of the sort of politics we embrace, religion to which we subscribe, professions we train for and practice to the best of our ability, sports teams with which we align, music genre in which we indulge, clothing style we sport, dining cuisine we prefer, habits we cannot break, modality of transportation we demand, manner in which we love, passion with which we hate, how financially successful we may become or how badly destitute we might be after failing epically, the two levelers of the playing field we as human beings cannot escape and have limited and finite negotiating power with are death and taxes. The usual issue with the first is how soon and with the second is how much. This was the question that vexed me yet again as I spent most of my morning tracking down a delinquent 1099 and most of my afternoon attending the funeral of the mother of two high school classmates.
Taxation is a fact of life and to ignore it is to remain a child. Indeed, this nation born of revolution made that big step toward independence over lack of representation, NEVER over taxation! We can argue all day over how our tax money is spent but in the end we all will pay something, somewhere, somehow regardless of how many loopholes we may find in the tax code. We can only hope all our taxes are spent smart for the good things we determine government can and should provide.
Some day the heart of every human being will stop beating, marking the end of life. When it happens to those close to us the most important thing at that moment is the knowledge that our relationship with the deceased was the best it could possibly have been. It may not have been a good relationship as many have varying degrees of dysfunction but if it was the best it could have been at the moment life ends then the sorrowful feeling of loss is usually adequately palliated.
Life is about relationships. Counseling my friend who delivered his late mother’s eulogy today helped me reaffirm this most basic fact of living.
These lowest common denominators transcend everything, EVERYTHING!
Between whatever tax deadline we may have and the hour the bell tolls for us lets try to enjoy our time here and be a little kinder to each other. Let us try to not take ourselves too seriously and above all try to at least give the appearance of being just a little bit less of an asshole!
Life is beautiful. My friends’ mother had a long and full one. As one ray of sunshine has flickered out may her fond memory make those lives she touched shine a little brighter!