Life is Short

There is nothing like a jarring event to give us a sense of reality and perspective.

Like a plane crash. Random. Senseless. Tragic. It makes us all think of the unthinkable: dying.

I know I'm the business guy at Fox, but it makes even guys like me stop thinking about business. Somehow companies go on. CEOs march on. Earnings parade on and on. A CEO goes, another comes in. No one is indispensable. And everyone, rich and poor — each and every one — eventually dies.

Just think of that, for a second.

All we know. All we experience. All the money we've made, or not made. Investments we've seen or not seen. It all kind of pales when you think that you're gone.

I heard a remarkable woman in Queens talking about the plane crash. Her name escapes me, so excuse me. But what she said is seared in my mind. She was still planning to fly to the Dominican Republic on Thursday. When asked, "but look what happened to American Airlines Flight 587," she responded, "we're all gonna die sometime, honey. I can't fuss over that."

In her own, typically feisty New York way, this woman taught us a valuable lesson. One that I think CEOs and movers and shakers alike should hear.

It's not how we die. It's how we live.

It's not planning on the endgame, but the game itself.

In reality, life is a short game. For some, very short. We can make the best of it, or we can lose sight of it and even fear it. I prefer that woman in Queens, who prefers to take life and squeeze it, savor it, hold it and appreciate it right up to the point that you lose it.

Stocks might have projected returns, but we don't.

Markets have assumptions, but we have only one.

Life is short, let's go long.

What do you think?  Send your comments to: cavuto@foxnews.com

Watch Neil Cavuto's Common Sense weekdays at 4 p.m. ET on Your World with Neil Cavuto.