Saturday, January 19, 2008

What Will Matter


What Will Matter

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 or brilliant.
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So 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 people you knew,
but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories but the memories
that live in those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered,
by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.

It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.


Michael Josephson

http://www.josephsoninstitute.org/movie_whatwillmatter.html

15 comments:

Sameera Ansari said...

Thanks for dropping by my space :)

Nice,thoughtful blog you have here!

Anonymous said...

long time no see!

Kalpana said...

Though we know, we still long for all those. So, what is important, is to live life meaningfully......

EXSENO said...

I began to read this and thought, this is a little depressing for someone my age to read, but then I read on to the second half, it was lovely and so true.

Kuan Gung said...

Thank you so much sameera...greetings

Kuan Gung said...

Warm greetings piika...a very belated best wishes for the new year! Yes long time!

Kuan Gung said...

Great point kalpana...warm greetings....

Kuan Gung said...

Warm greetings exseno...yes it is...

Arti Honrao said...

Thought provoking!

It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

so true!


GBU
Arti

Neer said...

Kuan... so true... what matters is always the choice!! such simple n beautiful words! and such poignant thoughts!

Kuan Gung said...

Warm greetings arti...thank you

Kuan Gung said...

Hi neers...I was just over by you...warm greetings & thank you

begijn said...

Love, love, love this. I'm printing it -

"what will be left when I've drawn my last breath,
'cept the friends I've met and folks who know me,
will I discover a soul saving love, or,
just the dirt above and below me ..."

"Doubting Thomas"
by NickelCreek

Kuan Gung said...

begijn...
will I discover a soul saving love, or,
just the dirt above and below me ..."
very nice...thank you

Othersideblue said...

also these words are true..

Thanks for posting.
These are the voice we shall ponder about more and more to help us realize the importance of our each day... to help us make our each day significant.

its giving unconditionally; its bringing happiness to as many hearts as we can; its leaving behind good memories,
before its too late.

You do have a lovely music play list i was listening to.