I don’t know about you, but several  news events in the last week have once again forced  me to pause long enough to reconsider what matters, or more importantly, what doesn’t matter enough at all to worry or complain about.

If we ever needed more reminders that our lives hang by a thread, consider those unsuspecting lives in Norway that were snuffed out by the psychopathic Anders Behring Breivik, or the wildly successful Bay Street Barron Brad Griffiths, who at the height of his stunning career and at the prime of his wealth/privileged life, falls (in a heartbeat) out of his boat on Lake Muskoka and drowns on one of the most beautiful days of the summer. Then, ask yourself why NDP leader Jack Layton has to fight for his life against cancer this summer, instead of basking in it’s glorious sunshine and the political sun he’s been enjoying since the election.

I have a cousin who needs a kidney transplant, another on a waiting list for a lung and an elderly uncle who copes alongside my healthy aunt with Alzheimer’s disease.

Me? At the moment, I have no health problems beyond a bit of extra weight that is solely the result of good and perhaps excessive living. I have a healthy and wonderful life partner; we both have great jobs with established legacies that we (for the most part) enjoy. We have real estate assets that are worth way more than is owed on them. Yes, very fortunate indeed, but as this weeks events serve to remind us, it can all change in a heartbeat — which is why we should all be reminded to spend more time and energy celebrating  the fact that we are still on the ” right side of the grass,” rather than stressing over who is going to cut it and when.