Ready or not!

What will matter

Ready or not, some day
it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises,
no days, no hours or minutes.
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 all expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed
so important will fade away.
It won't matter where you came from,
or on what side of the tracks you lived.
It won't matter whether
you were beautiful or brilliant.
Your gender, skin color,
ethnicity 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 and 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 of 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.

~ by Michael Josephson ~