What Will Matter?

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 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 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.

无论是否准备好，总有一天它都会走到尽头。那里没有日出，没有白天，没有小时和分钟。你收集的所有东西，不管你珍惜或忘记与否，它们都将流入他人手中。

    不管是你得到的或是你欠别人的，可你的财产、名誉和权势也都会变成和你毫不相干的东西。

    你的怨恨、愤慨、挫折和妒忌最终也将消失。

    因此，你的希望、抱负、计划以及行动日程表也将全部结束。当初看得比较重的成功得失也会消失。

    你来自何方，住在穷人区还是富人区也都不重要了。

    你昔日的漂亮与辉煌也都不重要了，你的性别、肤色、种族地位也将消失。

    因此，什么重要呢？怎么衡量你有生之年的价值呢？

    重要的不是你买了什么，而是你创造了什么；不是你得到了什么，而是你给予了什么。

    重要的不是你成功了，而是你生命的意义。

    重要的不是你学到了什么，而是你传授了什么。

    重要的是每个行动之中都有正直和勇气的气概，伟大的同情心和牺牲精神，并且鼓励他人遵从榜样。

    重要的不是你的能力，而是你的性格。

    重要的不是你认识多少人，而是在你离开后，别人会认为是个永远的损失。

    重要的不是你想念谁，而是爱你的人想念你。

    重要的是别人会记你多长时间，谁记着你，为什么记着你。

    生命中重要的是平安无事。

    那不是环境的问题，而是选择的问题。

    选择有意义的人生吧！