Member-only story
How Do You Define the Measure of Your Life?
Thoughts on the novel “The Measure”
The first time I read The Measure by Nikki Erlick, I knew it would be one of those books I never really stopped thinking about. There are certain stories put out in the world that cling to us like burrs from a heavily wooded forest.
The Measure’s story has stuck to me. And its message has me thinking about the measure of my life.
In the novel, every adult on Earth (22 years and older) wakes up one morning with a mysterious box delivered to them sometime in the night. The box is a small, unassuming wooden chest inscribed with the recipient’s name and the words, “The measure of your life lies within.” A string that symbolizes the length of that person’s life, beginning to end, is contained in the box.
The concept for this story is deceptively simple. One day, the length of our lives is a mystery, and the next, every adult on Earth has the option to find out how long they have left.
I had never thought much about the length of my life. Of course, I’d wonder how I might die, and once falling in love and having children, I worried I’d come to an untimely death, leaving my loved ones grieving. Yet that was the extent to which I ever allowed myself to think about the topic. To me, the idea of an unknowable timeline…
