Life reduced to its essentials

Peggy Noonan writes of the phone calls people made Sept. 11, 2001, on the way to their deaths.

Something terrible had happened. Life was reduced to its essentials. Time was short. People said what counted, what mattered. It has been noted that there is no record of anyone calling to say, "I never liked you," or, "You hurt my feelings." No one negotiated past grievances or said, "Vote for Smith." Amazingly - or not - there is no record of anyone damning the terrorists or saying "I hate them."

Just wondering, then: Seeing as we all will die one day, why don't people spend more of the time that's left on what counts, what matters, and why do we waste so much time on the unimportant, the petty, and the hate?