What Matters Most...
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 10:34 pm
If I was an actor, I'd probably be typecast. You get the same old message from the same old guy. My message is consistent.
And I have another dose here. But a good one nonetheless. So, ho hum, check it out.
A publisher acquaintance of mine in Phoenix wrote this on his opinion page this week. It came from an article entitled "What Will Matter." by Michael Josephson from Character Counts.
"Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else. Your wealth, fame, and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed. Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear. So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away. It won't matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end. It won't matter whether you were beautiful. Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant."
So then what WILL matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
"What will matter is not what you bought but what you built, not what you got but what you gave. What will matter is not your success but your significance. What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.. What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, or sacrifice that enriched, empowered, or encouraged others to emulate your example. What will matter is not your competence but your character. What will matter is not how many you knew but how many will feel a lasting loss when you are gone. What will matter is not your memories but the memories of those who loved you. What will matter is how long you will be rememberd, by whom, and for what."
Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of circumstance, but choice.
Choose to live a life that matters. CHOOSE to live a life that matters.
I read this twice today..and felt it was relevant to my own life. Easier said than done, for sure, but still worthy of the effort. I liked it. Yup Mikey, I liked it.
And I have another dose here. But a good one nonetheless. So, ho hum, check it out.
A publisher acquaintance of mine in Phoenix wrote this on his opinion page this week. It came from an article entitled "What Will Matter." by Michael Josephson from Character Counts.
"Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else. Your wealth, fame, and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed. Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear. So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away. It won't matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end. It won't matter whether you were beautiful. Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant."
So then what WILL matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
"What will matter is not what you bought but what you built, not what you got but what you gave. What will matter is not your success but your significance. What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.. What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, or sacrifice that enriched, empowered, or encouraged others to emulate your example. What will matter is not your competence but your character. What will matter is not how many you knew but how many will feel a lasting loss when you are gone. What will matter is not your memories but the memories of those who loved you. What will matter is how long you will be rememberd, by whom, and for what."
Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of circumstance, but choice.
Choose to live a life that matters. CHOOSE to live a life that matters.
I read this twice today..and felt it was relevant to my own life. Easier said than done, for sure, but still worthy of the effort. I liked it. Yup Mikey, I liked it.
