Time is life and its an incredibly valuable commodity to a human, especially as it becomes shorter with each passing minute.
I really enjoyed this post. Time is something I've been thinking about recently. I don't believe many concepts can be understood until one understands time. Time is money, so they say. Time is the most valuable currency because you can't make more of it. People want to get rich, but they don't understand time. So they waste their money, just like they waste their time.
Two young parents died recently a few miles from my house. They were killed by street racers. They had two 7-year-old daughters in their mini-van. Luckily the daughters survived the crash with minor injuries. But both parents died instantly. The parents thought they were going to all have a nice dinner together, but sadly it was their last.
Time for the husband and wife was up. How would they have lived their lives if they knew it was going to be cut short like that? The street racers wasted their time, and their life. Now they have to carry the burden of knowing they orphaned two children.
Time is a heavy topic because death naturally becomes part of it. You stated it perfectly with the question of "When was the last time you thought about your life ending?"
Thinking about one's demise, or that of someone close to us, is unpleasant and I don't think it should be dwelled upon. Acknowledge that it will happen, and move on with life. But people just don't at times. They become weighed down with unimportant things, fail to take advantage of the time they have and then regret it later.
Your parent story is tragic, I'm sure one that has been repeated around the world. It's a good reminder that spending time doing those things that provide value is the best policy.