Days and numbers.

Okay.

It is my birthday today.My phone has been ringing off the hook and my facebook wall is full of wishes from friends and family.

I was just allowing my mind to roam after a busy day in the hospital this afternoon when the phrase "teach us to number our days" somehow sneaked into my subconscious.

It somewhat resurrected a life long debate I have always had with myself.What is actually important in life?. Where should a man lay emphasis in his daily life?.

The simple answer to this simple question depends on your philosophical and religious beliefs.If you are very religious, you would be quick to say "live everyday for God". If you are a free thinker,you probably want to have as much fun as possible before leaving the stage.

Whatever your belief,you probably have thought about the end of your days at least once.

Today, I saw a pretty sick middle aged man with end stage cirrhosis(liver failure of some sort) who had just been told he would die pretty soon.He's now hospice care.

Hospice is a philosophy of care for the terminally ill to make their transition into the beyond as comfortable as it could be.

When I walked into his room,he looked like a ghost. With sunken eyeballs and guttering of interdigital spaces,he was cachectic and bloated at the same time. Tattooed over his right forearm was a voluptous blonde, and he had some blings on his fingers that could no longer come off due to soft tissue swelling.His fingertips bore telltale signs of decades of nicotine staining.

Even his current medical condition has been linked to years of excessive alcohol abuse.

He was now under no illusions about his end being very near.For him,it would soon all be over.

However,all over the world today, people will die who have nothing like what this gentleman has.Someone will sleep and just fail to wake up.Another might be run over by a car.Scores more might yet meet their sudden end from an Isreali cluster bomb in Gaza today.

So when we celebrate birthdays,what are we really celebrating?Another year of opportunity or a year closer to the grave?I guess it depends on whether you are a "half-full" or "half-empty" person.

Whatever you choose,make sure when you leave,people will be able to associate your memory with something.Be somebody.Do something.

It is simply not enough to just exist or to chase after excellence in your narrow field of work without touching any other life (for better or for worse!).Don't be anonymous.

For my patient and thousands more for whom today would be their last,I hope their tombs would not read "Here lies Mr(or Ms) Anonymous".