What Will Matter 598.1
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 are 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.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
Subscribe
Comments
I just love this poem. I enjoy your commentaries every day.
Posted by: Lisa Oviedo | December 19, 2008 4:07 PM
I think this commentary is the best one yet.
Posted by: Anonymous | December 21, 2008 12:08 PM
No truer words were spoken. Add to this that what you say and do, and the match of the two, are emulated by your children.
Posted by: Gail | December 22, 2008 6:08 AM
What you do here will only matter if life is a test and you are graded once this part is over.
Posted by: P Ken Nitz | December 22, 2008 9:20 AM
Brilliant, in the sense of brightly illuminating; wonderful, in the evocation of awe; simple, in it's concise clarity of basic truth.
Thank you. This is what the holidays -- Christian or Jewish -- are all about.
Be well and have a peaceful new year.
Posted by: Angelae Le'Chastaignier | December 27, 2008 4:45 PM
This poem is one of the best I have ever read. It makes one think of his/her life and if he/she could live it over again. It's really amazing that the older one becomes, the more the words really mean. Maybe it's not too late to put these lessons to good use instead of being consumed with the day-to-day workload.
Posted by: Steven B. Redmond | December 28, 2008 10:56 AM
Since reading your poem, I have shared it with the students in my classes. The point is perfectly clear. Throughout my life I feel it was with me all along. Thanks for putting it into words.
Posted by: Edward Grageda | December 31, 2008 1:33 PM
Life is short, but this poem aptly illustrates that it is not the length of life that counts but the impact you can make with the time you are given.
Posted by: Ray Gentilini | January 8, 2009 3:19 AM
Just to let you know, we read this recently at my fiance's father's funeral. It made a lot of people stop and think about their lives and the life of someone who had just passed.
Thank you for sharing these words with us on that day.
Posted by: Krista Ellis | June 12, 2009 5:44 AM
P Ken Nitz said, "What you do here will only matter if life is a test and you are graded once this part is over." I have to strongly disagree. Life isn't about tests in this respect. The message here is about what you pass on in memories, attitudes, feelings, etc. to others left behind after you die. Whether you believe in an afterlife or not (and I do) is irrelevant. Your remark to me (if I understood it correctly) is based on focusing totally on yourself. You are only concerned if there is an afterlife. This implies that if there isn't an afterlife, your feeling is it only matters what you can get out of life now. If I interpreted your statement wrong, please correct me and I apologize. My main concern in life is that I will (hopefully) have helped make the world a better place by being here -- not for myself but for mankind. That is the point of this message.
Posted by: Edgar | June 19, 2009 6:57 AM