The Priority List.

Apparently when you find out that the many years which you had previously assumed to span out ahead of you infinitely, are suddenly brutally and terminally ripped away from you, this is the ideal time to pen a book. Or at least reflect on your life's endeavors in written form and publish for public consumption.

With ailing limbs and a mind declining so rapidly you feel like you are in the ironic reversal of your "terrible twos", it is necessary to sub in someone with less urgency to document the life they've had and aid the quest to halt your departure. David Menasche did just this.

A powerful teacher with a gift of insight and support he dedicated his life to using on his students, this book is the result of how much one can change the lives of many, in the routine of the mundane; school.

This little treasure of a book I picked up off a windowsill. It was sitting in the corner of said windowsill so fresh and pristine, yet forlorn. Oblivious to having one of the best views in Sydney, it was almost crawling off its perch to find a home with someone else who would love it and benefit from everything in it which it couldn't enjoy itself. At least temporarily, as is the optimal love of literature; a token for passing on experience and the 2D wisdom that sits hidden beneath its folds.

So I did, and four train rides home (fastest journey's yet!) later, I was closing the back cover with a perspective touched by someone who I would never know. I devoured it like I did baguette's when strolling Parisian Rue's; with only an aftertaste of wisdom, and no lasting stains or crumbs sprayed across my trousers (nor the remnants visible for weeks building around my middle.)

Like Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, I seem to be drawn to the idea of how people use their time when it suddenly becomes precious, and doesn't spread out ahead of them, as if a Yellow Brick Road of endless capacity. Perhaps an unjustified approach to life, unless we really are told the use by date for our lives, but an informative and uplifting read through the most unlikely of situations. A lesson in how to approach life, not just when you're told your end is nigh, but for everyone, everyday; a reminder of how lucky we are to be here.

I recommend the read, Blogosphere; with some lasting anecdotes that stay with me (at least this week) such as the pure, simplistic and natural beauty of a breeze on your face. It is something that I have rued before, temporarily forgetting that it is these moments which we should appreciate, not because we never know if it will be our last; we simply don't. But because they're special, and felt, and the world is an endlessly mysterious place that we're just lucky to be wholly inhabiting.

Thanks Menasche, for following your passion and your purpose, and for teaching to the very end.