100 Years

This is about the song by Five for Fighting. I have heard this song many times and liked it mostly for its melody. It was not until I have seen the lyrics flashed on the monitor of a videoke machine did its simple profundity and reality struck me. The song goes:

I'm 15 for a moment
Caught in between 10 and 20
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are

I'm 22 for a moment
She feels better than ever
And we're on fire
Making our way back from Mars

15 there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to lose
15, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live

I'm 33 for a moment
Still the man, but you see I'm a they
A kid on the way
A family on my mind

I'm 45 for a moment
The sea is high
And I'm heading into a crisis
Chasing the years of my life

15 there's still time for you
Time to buy, Time to lose yourself
Within a morning star

15 I'm all right with you
15, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live

Half time goes by
Suddenly you’re wise
Another blink of an eye
67 is gone
The sun is getting high
We're moving on...

I'm 99 for a moment
Dying for just another moment
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are

15 there's still time for you
22 I feel her too
33 you’re on your way
Every day's a new day...

15 there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to choose
Hey 15, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live

The deliberate pace by which videoke machine flashed the lyrics of the song made me reflect on my life's past stages. I do not remember with particularity what I did when I was fifteen but I think daydreaming was a big part of it. I may not have experienced what the songwriter said about 22 but I think the scenario was true for many people. I imagine by that time, a person is earning his own money, assuming that one has graduated from college, found a job, and not dependent on one's parents for allowance. This could be the age of new found freedom. I was this when I was 22, minus the woman.

I'm now 31, close enough to the song's 33. And yes, there's a kid on the way and a family on my mind. (The song of course did not foresee me minus and income while reviewing for the bar, but as I think the song was meant to be generic.) Given today's projected lifespan of a male Pilipino, I do not have a good probability of reaching 100. (I think that the song used "100 years to live" because it's easier to use as a lyric; imagine if its "64 years to live.) So by today's standard, I am halfway on my mark and it made me think of what I have accomplished so far and what I want to do before I reached "dying for a moment". And that where it really struck me. This is a classic mid-life scenario. Given the scheme of things, I do not have really that much time. Fact is, when one reaches that stage in life when he thinks about these things, he does not have much time either. Positive thing about that is now I know and am doing something about it .

P.S.

September's bar is just 120 days to go. "I only have 120 days to review."