Sunday, November 15, 2009

What will matter


Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.
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There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.
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All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.
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Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
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It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

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Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.
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So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists will expire.
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The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
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It won’t matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end.
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It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.
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Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.
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So what will matter?
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How will the value of your days be measured?
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What will matter is not what you bought but what you built,
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Not what you got but what you gave.
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What will matter is not your success but your significance.
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What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.
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What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched,
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empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
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What will matter is not your competence but your character.
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What will matter is not how many people you knew,
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but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.
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What will matter is not your memories but the memories of those who loved you.
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What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
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Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.
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It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
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Choose to live a life that matters.
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Michael Josephson

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