He was a most remarkable man. A man of years clearly mapped out upon his face. I shook his hand and felt a mix of gentleness and hardened, leather-like skin.

His movie-star blue eyes slip you into a momentary trance. He wouldn’t notice you staring at him, though, for he is legally blind. But he senses the hesitation in your voice if you do not respond immediately to his first question. “So, how was your life?”

That question alone halts you in your tracks. “I would be better prepared to answer how was my day or the past few weeks was,” I suggested. “That’s too easy,” he said. “I think we need to keep up on our life as a whole.” I thought for a moment and simply asked, “Why?”

“We tend to nit-pick. We can so easily take one day and dissect it. But when we broaden the view, we take much more into consideration. Life in general will be ‘good’ or at least ‘okay,’” he explained. “So you cut right to it and ask for an overall rating,” I said.

“If I can get someone to see the big picture and realise there is better in their life than one bad day,” he said. “So, how was your life?” I asked him right back.

“Wonderful so far!” he responded with a smile. “Thanks for asking,” he said. Then he said one more thing that really stayed with me. “I’m on the shady side of sunset.” How powerful! It seems to me that we often see life as beginnings and endings. Sunrise depicts a new dawn. Sunset makes us think of endings. — Beliefnet.com