Memento Mori…‘’You Could Leave Life Right Now’’

memento mori

The older I get the more I consider my own mortality. What will happen when I leave this world? How will my family cope?

Not in a scared way.

You see I’m not frightened of death or the concept of dying…

But I am increasingly aware that the clock of life is ticking, and I have no idea when the final sweep of the second hand will tick round.

The last few weeks have brought this heightened state of awareness into sharp focus. Towards the end of January 2018, a 24year old young man by the name of David Minn, an old school friend of my daughter Rosie, tragically fell to his death, while out hiking, in Argentina.

He had three weeks left of his eight-month adventure, traveling and exploring the wonders of South America. He was looking forward to coming home as were his parents and sister.It was a horrific accident, that has devastated his loving family and the wider community.

I met David only very briefly on a few occasions several years back, dropping Rosie round at his house and picking her up afterward and at a family celebration. Even then, David was known to be full of life and fun to be around- that’s why all the kids used to gather at his house. He went on to get a degree in Aerospace Engineering and had his whole life ahead of him, so you can only shudder at horror at the pain his family must be going through.

This was not supposed to happen…

However, even in this darkest of times, his family, and friends have gathered raroundand formed a movement using the hashtag #minnmakeshisway.

People from all over the world, are writing messages of love and support, placing them in glass bottles, and launching them into seas around the world, to be found later by unsuspecting walkers. Complete strangers too.

This act of unity, love and support for David and his family, is a beautiful thing to behold and a wonderful way to keep his memory alive, and I urge you to check out some the many articles online http://bit.ly/2GKeaQC as well as the Facebook page @minnmakeshisway.

Around the same time, I received a text from an old work colleague:

‘Hi Steve, is this your number?’

Of course, when someone you haven’t heard from in years texts you out the blue, the odds are, it’s not likely to be good news. I quickly learned that one of my very first managers in my career as a Loss Adjuster had succumbed to his long-term illness and had passed on.

Brian Wright, was truly old school. He had the look of a retired sergeant major, with his ruddy cheeks and highly polished shoes. He was my mentor, as I learned the ropes of insurance claims handling, back in the90’s. I was new to the industry then, and Brian took me under his wing and pretty much taught me what I needed from a technical perspective.

He didn’t suffer fools and used to redline my draft reports to Insurers time and again until I got my wording just right. He could be quite dour, but certainly not without humour.

We got on well for the 10 years I was at Ellis and Buckle, and I left before he retired. I have a lot to thank him for and am sorry we never caught up again after I left in 2000.

Life goes too fast.

I carry a medallion around with me engraved on one side ‘Memento Mori’ and the other side‘ You could leave life right now’. It’s my permanent reminder that we should not fear death, but aware that we are not living to our full potential.

We have no idea when our time is up, so we have not a second to waste.

Here’s to your best life.

steven lazarus

Steve Lazarus property claim