Me Thinks

I am so taken with the writings of Marcus Aurelius.  He was a unique man and played many roles--a Roman soldier, an emperor and a philosophical writer. He believed in God and that everything happened for a purpose. This is something he wrote in his journal about those that want to live longer than they do:

Where is the hardship then, if no tyrant nor yet an unjust judge sends thee away from the state, but nature, who has brought thee into it? The same as if a praetor who has employed an actor dismisses him from the stage.--"But I have not finished the five acts, but only three of them."--Thou sayest well, but in life the three acts are the whole drama; for what shall be a complete drama is determined by him who once was the cause of its composition, and now of its dissolution; but thou art the cause of neither. Depart then satisfied, for he also who releases thee is satisfied.

This quote makes me think of my brother who died this past summer.  He thought he had a couple acts left to live, but he was called home by a satisfied maker, having completed his "drama."