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 treasureed 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 disapear.
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,empowerd 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 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.
《人生的意義》
不管你是否準(zhǔn)備好，有一天一切都會(huì)結(jié)束。不再有旭日東升，不再有燦爛白晝，不再有一分一時(shí)的光陰。你斂藏的一切，不論是彌足珍貴的還是已經(jīng)忘記的,都將留給別人。
你的財(cái)富、名望和世俗的權(quán)力都將變成細(xì)枝末節(jié)的事情，不管是你擁有的還是虧欠的，都不再重要。
你的忌恨、冤仇、挫敗和嫉妒之心終將消失。同樣，你的希望、雄心。計(jì)劃和未竟之事都將終止。曾經(jīng)無(wú)比重要的成敗得失也將慢慢褪色。你來自哪里，用什么方式生活都不重要了。
你是美貌如花還是才華橫溢也不重要了。你的性別、膚色、種族都無(wú)關(guān)緊要了。
那么什么變得重要了呢？你有生之日的價(jià)值怎么來衡量呢？
重要的不是你所買到的，而是你所建造的。不是你所得到的，而是你所付出的。
重要的不是你的成功，而是你的價(jià)值。
重要的不是你學(xué)到的，而是你傳授的。
重要的是你的每一次正直、憐憫、勇敢和犧牲之行為能夠使人充實(shí)，讓人強(qiáng)大或是能夠激勵(lì)他人，讓他們以你為榜樣。
重要的不是你認(rèn)識(shí)多少人，而是在你離開時(shí)，有多少人感到這是永久的損失。
重要的不是你的記憶，而是愛你的人的記憶。
重要的是你為人所懷念的時(shí)間有多長(zhǎng)，重要的是誰(shuí)在懷念你，重要的是他們?yōu)槭裁匆獞涯钅恪?/p>
讓我們的一生不是因?yàn)榕既欢兊弥匾皇且驗(yàn)榄h(huán)境而變得重要，而是我們自己的選擇，選擇讓自己的生命有意義。
