It’s widely known that children have a certain innocence and wisdom that some adults seem to lack. As we get older, we grow into the duties of life and can sometimes grow closed off from the world around us. We start to think that life is more about how many hours we work than how many hours we spend doing the things we love. We look more at the size of our bank account than on the scope of our purpose.
Sometimes, we don’t realize how important certain parts of life are until we’re almost at the end of it.
For pediatrist Alistair McAlpine, he sees both of these aspects of life almost every day.
McAlpine works in a palliative care unit in Cape Town, South Africa overseeing the daily routines and health regimens of children ages four to nine who are terminally ill. Although the normal course of life allows us to grow into full adulthood and see the world in all its complexity, McAlpine’s patients have much shorter life expectancies—and much less time to learn all of life’s most important lessons. As it turns out, though, McAlpine’s kids have a lifetime’s worth of wisdom already.
Recently, McAlpine decided to poll his patients on what they most enjoyed in life as a guide on how to live.
He collected many different responses and then posted the results on Twitter in a thread that has since gone massively viral.
He started by explaining the situation:
To begin with, none of the children said that life was about conflict or spending time online:
Lots of them mentioned their love of animals.
Others mentioned how much they loved their parents:
And ice cream was also very popular:
So was reading stories and other fun activities:
At the end of everything, Dr. McAlpine summed up his findings on how to truly live the good life:
Although this story is touching (and maybe heartbreaking), it also has a lot to teach us.
There are many ways to measure the value of a life and many of them read as cliches. Still, we often have the luxury of not having to face ourselves, a luxury the children in Dr. McAlpine’s clinic don’t have. When our time on earth is short, we’re focused to spend time and energy only on the things that matter—and fortunately, all of those things seem to be positive and beautiful.
Special thanks to Dr. McAlpine and his children who are wise beyond their years.
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Sources: Twitter/AlastairMcA30, BBC, Independent
