It is written, "Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty…soon they disappear, and we fly away…Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom," (Psalm 90).

I was reminded of those words this week when reading about an Arizona teen becoming the sixth victim this year of a brain-eating amoeba.

The attacker is called "Naegleria fowleri." From initial exposure, the victim usually dies within two weeks.

This 14-year-old boy went swimming at Lake Havasu City. Apparently, that is where he picked up the amoeba.

His dad said, For a week everything was fine. Then his son got a headache. A few days later, the father was holding his son in his arms and the boy had stopped breathing.

In addition to the case in Arizona, two cases have been reported in Texas and three in central Florida.

Preventing the amoeba from entering one's body is relatively simple: Use nose plugs. Once it enters one's body, however, it is fatal.

What a life lesson! Preventing so much in life that destroys us can be relatively simple, but once the things in life that destroy start their destruction reversing them is so difficult.

Life is brief, and it is too precious to waste time on trivial things. How blessed we would all be if we could focus on the meaningful things and dismiss the trivial.

Jack Rollins is the managing editor of the Daily Dunklin Democrat.