Of Love and Friendship
By: Obie Usategui
3/22/2025

Hi friends, followers, unlike I do almost every day, today’s narrative will not deal with my customary diatribes on political matters. Today, I am, for a change, being somewhat philosophical, analytical, esoteric, your pick.

Let me explain what has brought about this change in topic. Well, as it turns out, I am now 79 years old. I will turn 80 this November. Some call it third age, some call it senior years, some elderly and others call it plain old age – all of them, mind you, accurately and correctly describing the last stage in our lives just prior to our known departure. A parting that we all will face someday – a parting that many of our friends and relatives have already undertaken, and that is, precisely what I want to talk about today.

Just the other day, I was watching one of those science programs and they referred to our planet earth being as old as billions of years. Assuming that is true, and considering today’s life expectancy is 78.4 years, that just goes to tell you, really, we are all here for a measly brief time in comparison. 78.4 years relative to billions, is, should I say, fleeting, ephemeral, transient, momentary. It is even less time than it will take to blink your eyes – that’s how long we are here.

Given these circumstances, our gathering at this moment in time is hardly a coincidence. During however many years God keeps us here we all should be graciously aware that destiny placed us here together to share our brief passing for a reason. As people reach the later stages of their lives, it is common to receive notifications about the passing of friends or relatives while many times we do not get a chance to say goodbye and/or even tell a loved one how much we cared for them. As of late, seldom a day, a week goes by when I do not get a call to let me know of the passing of someone whom I knew.

I will never forget my dad’s last birthday before his passing, after I had given him his customary presents, I told him that my greatest gift to him was to tell him how much I loved him and how grateful I was for all he had given me, which brought him to tears. The only reason I did it is, often, we do not share our care, our love for others in a timely fashion, only to realize that it could be too late. As late as wishing we would have done it before parting.

The message, the moral to my story today is, don’t wait till it is too late. Make sure to tell the ones you love, your parents, your wives, your husbands, your kids, your friends, your relatives, how much you care for them before it is too late. Let everyone know how much you have cherished their friendship, their company, their acquaintance, their relationship in this very brief space in time that you have shared with them.

In keeping up with the old cliché “Practice What You Preach”, I wanted to let everyone of you who read and follow my articles, that I am glad we met, and I am glad to have shared with you during our brief stay. I thank all of you for your continued support. You are all important to me, and I am glad to have shared this moment with you. God bless you all.