Saturday 3 March 2012

A Life Lived that Matters by Steven Kroschel

I just watched the documentary 'Dying to have known' by Steven Kroschel and it speaks about the Gerson treatment.  It is a wonderful documentary and it ended with this soliloquy which I found very moving.  Tying into the 7 habits of highly effect people, Habit 2 is begin with the end in mind... 

I will group this into my words to live by - alongside my personal mission statement and desiderata :) I hope this inspires a few other people as it has me. 

“For each of us eventually, whether we are ready or not, someday it will 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 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 on what side of the tracks you lived at the end.
It won’t matter if you’re 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
are gone.
What will matter is not your memories but the memories that live in those who loved you.
A life lived that matters is not of circumstance but of choice.”