One week ago today the world lost a great man. Poppy, my wife’s maternal grandfather left this world and went into the next. It has been such an emotional and exhausting week, looking back on photo’s, sharing family stories, reliving old memories and even making new ones. What a week it has been!

Poppy lived an amazing life. Father of three girls, husband of one wife, grandfather to three grandchildren (plus me); an amazing man of integrity, faith and values…we would be so lucky to have more men like Poppy.

He lived to be 86, and some of you reading this think that is a good long life; I have to admit that it does sound good! However, when I think about my 28 years on this planet and how quickly they have flown by, I cannot help but fight the feeling that 86 will be here all too soon. People came out in droves to pay their respects on Thursday as we prepared to say our final goodbye the next day. This was a man well loved with a life well lived.

Standing at the graveside on Friday afternoon I could not help but think about death. It was right in front of me and something that had been on all of our minds all week. Being a history major, I love quotes from world leaders both past and present and a certain quote came to mind in the middle of the graveyard. It was spoken by King Solomon of Israel thousands of years ago. He writes “It is better to spend time at funerals than festivals. For you are going to die and you should think about it while there is still time. A wise person thinks much about death, while the fool thinks only about having a good time now”. King Solomon is credited for being one of the wisest King’s of Israel as well as one of the wisest men of Ancient Times and he encourages his readers to think about death and says you are wise if you do so. That’s different.

However, this line of thought reminds me of a commencement speech given by Steve Jobs at Stanford University in 2005, where he tells the graduates of this class to think about death. Steve tells 5 stories from his life and his point on death is his third story. He says “Death is the destination we all share….Death is the very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent.”

Thinking about death is wise.

Keeping death in perspective is life’s change agent. This is some interesting perspective.

This is a challenge to change my perspective. 2012 has been a year of loss for those close to me. We have said goodbye to one too many people, and I am hoping that we need not say goodbye to anymore this year. I have certainly been to my share of funerals this year, and I am hoping I gain wisdom from each life that has passed from here into eternity.

In Baltimore it is a beautiful Monday morning. The sun is shining, not a cloud in the bright blue sky, the temperature is a cool 75 degrees with a slight breeze. It is a good day to be alive. Yet the challenge I face, is how do I live today knowing I am going to die at some point? Personally, I want to impact my world for the greater good in the best way I can, with all that I can. I want to love more deeply, I want to laugh more heartily, I want to live more fully.

How about you?