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.
人终有一死,不管是否做好了准备。不再有日出、白天、黑夜,没有小时、分钟。你生前所积累的,不管是否被你珍视或是遗忘,都会被另一个人所继承。
你的财富、声名、世俗权力都沦为无关紧要。不管你拥有什么,不管世界还欠你什么,都没有意义了。
你的不满、怨恨、沮丧和嫉妒都将最终消失。
还有你的希望、抱负、计划、要做的事都将过期。曾经显得那么重要的胜负也黯淡了。
你的来历,你的生活方式也都没有意义了。
你是否美貌、是否聪慧,没有意义了;你的性别、肤色、种族也都没有关系了。
那么什么才是有意义的呢?我们生命的价值又怎么衡量呢?
有意义的不是你买的、建的、得到的,有意义的是你给予的。
有意义的不是你的成就,有意义的是你的影响。
有意义的不是你学到,有意义的是你教授的。
有意义的是你的每次包含着正直、同情、勇敢、牺牲,使人富足、使人有力、鼓励了他人以你为榜样的行动。
有意义的不是你的能力,有意义的是你的品性。
有意义的不是你为多少人所知,有意义的是多少人会在你的离去时感受到永远的损失。
有意义的不是你的记忆,有意义的是爱你的人对你的记忆。
有意义的是你会被记挂的时间、记挂你的人、你被记挂的事迹。
有意义的生命不是意外获得的。
那与环境无关而取决于你的选择。
选择有意义地活着吧。