#13 It is as important to make a life as it is a living

Prolog: This is aa first article that started with a premise and ended up with arguing for both sides. It did not start that way and as I was writing it, the vice versa stared at me and I captured it. Technically it could have been two articles but my daughter said keep it as is, though it may be confusing, it also makes it an interesting read. So I left it intact.

It is as important to make a life as it is a living.

Recently couple of us got together on a spur of the moment (and as a surprise) to celebrate a birthday of a dear friend. The pleasant surprise was the presence of one of the friends who couple of years ago moved out of bay area. The two of us have decided to take a bottle of whisky of our choice to toast the birthday boy. Lo and behold, the friend who is visiting also had the same idea and he brought a bottle of whisky too. The three whiskys were as diverse as we friends are, and as eclectic to boot and whisk(e)y aficionados appreciate it fully.

The unplanned reunion took place after about 18 months and it felt as if we met only last week. What was supposed to be a short visit and a toast since the birthday boy was working on that Wednesday, was morphed into an impromptu celebration that lasted till evening. It is a blessing that the friendship still feels fresh, as it was 45 years ago. It is like we were always soaring high in spirits (pun intended). Our friendship can draw an analogy with an airshow team. We are always in sync, together, relying on each other and yet always leave space between us. That is what made our survive, nay thrive all these years.

I had to leave in the mid-stream due to a family situation but it was a toast I was proposing that became the topic for my blog for this month. Among the four of us at that initial gathering, three of us were retired and the birthday boy is still employed full time and briefly bemoaned the fact that he still needs to work. That comment triggered the title of this article as a toast. Though it was a spur of the moment toast, it stayed at the back of my mind and I started introspecting (yet again, I might add) on priorities and perspectives.

It is a fact that all of us mentioned above and probably (almost) all of readers have focused on ascending career ladder, striving for financial independence and taking care of family, I, like some of you, have leaned more towards making a living over making a life. The process of making a living is not as easy as it may sound. One needs to be on top of things, professionally in one’s field, politically savvy as far as office politics go, keenly aware of economic turbulence and personal needs and wants.

Quite often one needs to be vigorous in protecting one’s “turf” for sake of self preservation.

If one is not vigilant, it is a “kill or be killed” situation. That kind of environment will jade your sense of adventure, your desire to enjoy life and will actually make you withdraw from living one’s life. The non sequitur aspect of this quest for making a living is that by the time one is ready to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor, age, health and other compulsions may kick in preventing one from savoring their hard work.

Making a living is as important as making a life. This pelican decided making a living is as important as making a life. Sort of counter point to the theme of this article. It was November of 2009, my son and I were on a boat owned by our neighbor’s father. It was a fishing trip into SF Bay with a tour of Bay thrown in for a good measure. As we were drifting slowly we this pelican following us.

As we stopped, the pelican kept coming close to the boat. As it came closer we saw a discarded fisherman’s hook stuck in its gullet and wing thus rendering it useless to fish or fly. It was tired.

We stopped the boat and used the fishing net to haul the pelican on to the boat. The pelican either very tired or instinctively realized it may be saved, did not fight and let us do what ever with it.

The poor bird was so badly entangled that there is no way it would have survived on its own for no more than few hours. You can see the entangled wire preventing it from flying and opening its gullet to fish.

So we did emergency procedure to untangle the wire from the bird and released it back into the water. By touching the wildlife we may have run afoul of the law but that bird needed to be rescued. The most gratifying thing was it was able to fish soon after without any issues as you can see the two photos below. So that pelican did make it a priority to make a living (or to live) before it decided to enjoy its life.