I had a co worker friend. He was in marketing and I was in sales. We both worked for a global corporation. Over the years I got to know him well. He was a very nice guy, intelligent, and a great giver of advice. His only flaw as I saw it was that he was so invested in politics. The political side that he was on is irrelevant. We had agreed that we would rarely have a political discussion. Politics is low on my list of what’s important in life.

After many years we both moved onto working for other corporations but kept in touch via email. He would occasionally slip in some politics and I would tweak him back regarding how I disagreed. They were all friendly exchanges by 2 people on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Not often enough I would encourage him to live in the present and not be so caught up in political stuff. He definitely decreased the amount of happiness that he might have had if he just didn’t take politics so seriously.

Then he sent an email about his not feeling very good. Several weeks later he tells me that he has pancreatic cancer. We were both in the medical field and knew that this was a death sentence with a term of 6 months or less. Over his last months he slowly declined. During this period neither of us ever once mentioned anything about politics. All the time that he had invested in political stuff was now irrelevant.

He died exactly 6 months after his diagnosis. I think of him often especially when I encounter people who spend so much of their time with politics rather than just living their lives attempting to gain some happiness.