“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.
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