HOW WE LIVE OUR LIVES

Jackie Robinson, the Hall of Fame baseball player, was most famous for breaking baseball's colour barrier, as the first African-American player in Major League Baseball. He is an American hero - he endured death threats and taunts from fans, and even threatened boycotts from opponents and his teammates. He could've quit, he could've fought back, but he did neither. Instead he went out and played the best baseball he could, and was rewarded with a spot in the Hall of Fame after his retirement, on top of all the accolades he received during his playing career.

Beyond his prowess on the baseball diamond, Robinson was a prolific quote. One of his most poignant ones was: A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.

This past summer, I wrote about a young relative that died. Given the 3000 people that attended his funeral, and the wonderful things that were said about him, and the fact that we all miss him terribly, I'd say that he did have an impact on people. He died while serving in his country's armed forces, helping to defend against terrorist activities.

We're all here on borrowed time, and in some cases, like my cousin's, that time is very short. We're all given the same 24 hours in a day, and unlike money, you can't save that time for later, and you for sure don't get interest on it. So, we have to make the most of our time here.

The only way to quantify how a person has spent their time on earth is what Robinson said: how we impact others. We all have the ability to impact others, and hopefully, in a way that is for the good of society.

We can impact other people in a whole host of ways. The easiest way is to do volunteer work. Most of you are educated and able bodied and there's a lot of worthy causes out there that would appreciate a helping hand. Just by volunteering you'd be helping that organization accomplish what it sets out to do.

Volunteering is the most obvious way to have an impact on others. When you volunteer, you're directly impacting other people, even though you may not be able to see it right away.

But, as it turns out, most of us do have an impact on other people around us, sometimes even a greater one that is not as obvious for you to see, or even think. The best thing you can do is to tell the people who've had an impact on you that they have - let them know how much they mean to you. Afterall, you probably won't know until they show up at your funeral, and even then, you definitely can't tell them how much they've impacted you.

Dedicated to the people who have had a positive impact on me and have made me a better person, and in particular to my friends who are not with me in Toronto, but are in my heart. They know who they are...

THREE SIMPLE WORDS

That's all it took for me to find out that my cousin was dead. "He is dead" and then I closed my office door, and cried. A lot.

My cousin was 23 years old, and a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force. He was a 5-year veteran of the armed forces. This is the same kid that I once locked in my locker in Grade 7, when he was all of maybe 5 years old. At 23, he still looked like that same 5 year old, but was much taller, and would probably not fit in the locker. Not that I'd be willing to try stuffing a military man into a locker.

The last time a relative died, I was 8 years old. It was my grandparents on my father's side. I really didn't know them that well, seeing them very rarely because they lived in another country. Any tears I shed back then, was probably more a reflection of being 8 years old, then actually crying from the sadness of losing people in my life. This time, I could reflect on memories of my cousin - not only locking him in a locker, but once tying him up to a chair to calm him down, to the time we kept telling him that he was going to jail because he accidentally hit a kid in the neighborhood with a plastic ski pole.

Everything is worse. I find myself moving slower than I usually do, or at least it seems that way in my mind.

When I tell people my cousin died, one of the first things they ask "Were you close?". Somehow, I don't see how that matters. While we weren't as close as we were since he'd moved away to Israel, and there was a 7-year age difference between us, fact is, he was still family, and he wasn't some distant cousin that I'd only met once or twice in my life time at some sort of family function where you meet all sorts of people that you're told by your Mom they are related to you, and you have to take her word on it because she is your mother, but also because DNA tests are too costly and take way too long for the purposes of a family gathering.

Really, I find the whole thing surreal. He's gone at the young age of 23. For the last 5 years, I've worried about hearing the news that we just got on Monday. Now, I don't have to worry. I'd much rather have to worry for a few more years. Given the alternative, that's a much better luxury.

REACHING THE PINNACLE OF THE OPTIMUM

Last week, I achieved a milestone occasion - I reached the 75,000 mark in Shoppers Optimum points. That is the highest reward level - $150 worth of free merchandise.

Over my entire time as being a member of the Optimum club, I probably have managed to get well over 75,000 points. Previously, the highest reward level was reached at 40,000 points - $75 worth of merchandise and I've reached that level at least twice. But I'd always cashed out at 40,000 points. This time, I kept going until I hit the 75,000 mark. What a rush - when the receipt read "You can save up to $150".

But with great power, comes great responsibility. Now, I actually have to choose $150 worth of free merchandise. Well, really $176 worth of free merchandise, because I will off course maximize my Optimum points and redeem them on "Mall Day" when I can save 15% off.

So, now the hard part begins. If they let me redeem the points for gift cards, there'd be no issue - oh there's still choice: Chapters/Indigo; Blue Jays; iTunes; Shoppers Drug Mart... but to walk away with $150 worth of gift cards for Chapters/Indigo is an easy choice. Believe you me, I could spend $150 at Chapters/Indigo in a flash. But alas, it is not meant to be.

So, I'm back at square one. I could buy Armani Code (recommended by Men's Health as the best cologne to wear on a date) but that would still only take me to the half-way point.

I'll fully admit that I've been eyeing the new Gillette razor - Fusion and its 6 blade system (that's a whole 2 extra blades that I can use to cut myself with!), but can I really justify using my Optimum points on that when I've still got all the Mach 3 blades from the last time I redeemed Optimum points? Me thinks not!

If I was a woman, then $150 at Shoppers would be a cinch. In an informal poll (of 1) most girls I know spend at least $50 at Shoppers in a single purchase. I'd be willing to bet most of them carry around $150 worth of makeup and toiletries just in their purse.

So until I decide what to buy, I guess I'll have to continue to wander the aisles of Shoppers, and continue to rack up the points. By the time I finally figure out what to spend my 75,000 Optimum points on, I may actually have to worry about buying $300 worth of merchandise.