bonus time

i read books on my one-hour mtr ride to work every day. i am now reading an autobiography, which is a favourite genre of mine. the book is "falling leaves" by adeline yen mah. it talks about the author's true story of her life as an unwanted chinese daughter.

when she grew up, she met again her aunt who loved her very much and took good care of her when she was a kid. the following is what her aunt said when they met again:

"i often think of life as a deposit of time. we are each allocated so many years, just like a fixed sum in a bank. when twenty-four hours have passed i have spent one more day. i read in the people's daily that the average life expectancy for a chinese woman is seventy-two. i am already seventy-four years old. i spent all my deposits two years ago and am on bonus time. every day is already a gift. what is there to complain of?"

it seems that only old people will think in this way. but isn't it true that we all are allocated a fixed sum? and we do not know how large this sum is. if we go on complaining while we are spending every cent, we may one day find out that we have spent all but doing nothing except complaining. so, why not consider each day as the last cent we have and live life to its fullest? a verse in the bible says, "...you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. what is your life? you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes (james 4:14)."

this also makes me think of "carpe diem" (seize the day), an aphorism used by roman writer horace in his odes.