"This too shall pass." I think we'd all live a lot better if we lived like we believed it.
I mean sure, we say it a lot in bad times. "Oh well, this too shall pass." It won't last forever, we won't have to endure it forever.
But what about the good times? They're gonna pass too. We spend a lot of good times worrying about bad times we might face in the future. I don't mean when we're at a party, I mean just when life is going good and nothing too bad is happening - we never really notice it much. But this is gonna pass too. We ought to slow down and appreciate it.
Our money will pass. We need it, we rely on it, so it's hard to remember that it's about as reliable as words written on water. But we saw just this year how the government can print out more and suddenly what we already have isn't worth nearly as much any more.
I have a Roth IRA myself, and I'm glad I have it. But I'm not going to cry if the economy dips and my retirement account goes down a bit. It's all going to go away eventually anyway. I won't be packing it in my casket.
That coworker who gets on my nerves - he'll pass. He may die, but most likely he'll get upset about something a manager said and quit. That's how that kind of person usually leaves.
If I find a girl, marry her and we live happily together, that will pass too. We will enjoy the time we have together, because it won't last forever. Eventually this will pass too. (It might even keep fights down. Life is too short to fight all the time, but a lot of people still argue like they got all the time in the world for being together.)
This Thanksgiving, be thankful for what you have while you have it. Someday you won't have it. Enjoy it while it's here.