Dr. Monica Williams-Murphy blogs about what she might say if she “lived in another universe” and was going to do a public service announcement. It got me to wondering, what would you say if you had a chance?
We talk a lot about the things we all would like to say if we knew we were near the end of our lives. Books have been written about it, and more than one recent song seems to take up the topic too. (See: Live Like You Were Dying, Live Like We’re Dying, If I Die Young, among others.)
Dr. Ira Byock talks about the Four Things That Matter Most: Please forgive me. I forgive you. Thank you. I love you. The book he wrote on that topic came out shortly before my own father died.
I can vividly remember standing at Dad’s bedside, and though he could not answer me, I think/hope he heard me when I said those four sentences to him, along with the fifth: Goodbye.
So there are a lot of things we might say if we knew either our time was short, or there were no fallout to be expected. Why don’t we say things now?
If you had the chance, what would you say right now, either to your loved ones or to the world?
Last Updated: November 6, 2018