A writer is out strolling in rural England one day and comes to the home of a renowned philosopher, who is tending his garden. The writer pauses, ponders the scene and then asks: "What would you do today if it was the end of the world?"

"I would finish tending my garden," is the reply.

Or on an earthier twist: Two old hobos are sitting on a park bench idly watching the world go by. "What would you do if it was announced that an asteroid was going to destroy the Earth in seven minutes?" one of them asked the other.

His companion thinks and thinks and then finally replies: "I would make love to the nearest thing that moved. What would you do?"

"Not move."

If there were really only a few days to live, what would you want to do? Would you still want to make money, have power? Most people would probably want to spend the time with their family and say goodbye to their friends. In this respect, the Mayan prophesy of Doomsday should be a wake-up call, because the end will come for all of us one day.

For most of us, it will probably have nothing to do with a specific natural disaster. But all of our timelines are running down and could be truncated at any time. The world's natural death rate is estimated at about 150,000 a day, so around that figure is the number of people who will die on Dec 21, 2012, and not by asteroid or World War III.

For the rest of us, let's savor the gift of life.

The author is an Australian researcher collaborating with Chinese academic and commercial institutions.

(China Daily 12/11/2012 page9)