Choosing 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 days, no hours or minutes.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten,
will be passed 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.

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Today was one of those days when I had to stop and say my piece.
My voice needed to be heard, I needed to hear myself and I did.
I am grateful for that. Despite the opposition, I am grateful for that voice.

For Sofia--When questions arise, remember your voice, my child. When all is gray,
remember your voice...and listen. When your heart knows the truth, when your Spirit
is strong and doesn't make you sleep until you listen, remember your voice. Remember who you are. Remember who is in you.

Sofia~

Thank you, daughter of my dreams, light of my heart, angel of my morning...it's been a year and eight months since I last wrote on this blog...it's taken so long for me to take up the courage to write again...to maintain this writing space that began with a story about Mama Rosie, your great grandmother. You see, 17 days before you were born, Mama passed away. Months before that I was struggling with my pregnancy and when you finally arrived I still couldn't bring myself to write about the most beautiful experience I've ever had my entire life because I kept thinking of Mama and how I was not able to fly to Samar to bid her farewell, one last time...like I said earlier, I couldn't bring myself to write about it publicly, not until today.

I still have one more email to compose for a client but it's already 11:11pm and after such a long day, all I really wanted to do was rest and pamper myself and yet I find that to even be very difficult to do right now...as if I needed to just get some thoughts down first before I could proceed to my nightly ritual...and then I remembered this blog. I was telling myself months ago that I should come up with a new one where I can write about less things from the heart, less about me, or my roots, but then I couldn't really find anything to write about as passionately...or as naturally, as this.

So here I am, wanting to write once more, about her stories and his stories...about the women and men who have shaped my life...about cultures and beliefs, about life, love and relationships, and more, all because now I have you and you, Sofia, have given me back something I thought I lost along the way, you've given me the will to live.