Around 70% to 80% of accidents happen during descent. It only takes 4.5 seconds to fall 100 meters—essentially the time you just spent reading that sentence. You feel proud and happy upon reaching the summit, seeing safe ground below, and in 4.5 seconds, you no longer exist. On the other hand, it takes years of slow decline from dementia or Parkinson's. Once, an older patient in a long-term care facility summarized her life by saying, "My life was flat."
Any day can be your last. Say "I love you" to those you care about before it's too late. Make the world around you better with you than without. After all, the only thing that matters in the end is how much you loved.
Photo below from the summit of Mist Mountain in Kananaskis, AB. The life of this man was certainly not flat.
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