Live a Life that Matters

Last Saturday I attended a funeral to support a friend whose father passed away.  I didn’t know Andrew Breitbart; his funeral was yesterday.  Today, I will attend another funeral for a friend whose father passed away.  All of these men , though different, have one thing in common.  They truly chose to live a “life that mattered.”  In honor of them, please enjoy this poem by Michael Josephson.  May it remind and inspire us to choose to live “a life that matters.”

What Will Matter

By Michael Josephson

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 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 circumstances but of choice.

 Choose to live a life that matters.