Imagine if you knew exactly when you would die. I mean, exactly. Down to the date, hour and minute. How would you prepare for that? How would you handle it?
Timothy McVeigh got that chance — a chance not one of his 168 victims got. It got me thinking ... not how tragic it is, but how liberating it could be.
I kept wondering, how would I handle that? Would I worry about the stock market? Probably not.
Would I ponder price earnings of the companies I had in my portfolio? Probably not.
Would I debate whether we're in a recession? Probably not.
Something tells me I'd be thinking about deeper things, more meaningful things.
Now back to my crackpot musing on this McVeigh thing. I'm ticked that he got a chance that so few of us do ... to think those big thoughts, to put life in that big perspective. It's unfair. It's not right.
And I know I sound kooky, but I think it was wasted on the wrong person. It's a precious gift given few others: to know exactly when and how you will leave this planet ... to put the triumphs and tragedies of living on this planet in perspective.
Maybe that's what fascinated so many of us about this whole McVeigh death watch. We were all watching his final hours and minutes, and maybe thinking ... what would we be doing? What would we be thinking?
And maybe, it puts things in perspective for us as well. That what we take for granted every day will not be ours for all days.
Some day, at some hour, at some minute, at some second ... it will end.
It bugs me not so much that McVeigh got that clarity when his time came. It bugs me that the rest of us likely won't when our time comes.
- Watch Neil Cavuto's Common Sense weekdays at 4 p.m. ET on Your World with Neil Cavuto. And send your comments to: cavuto@foxnews.com
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