WHAT WILL MATTER

Notwithstanding the hereafter following (or on account of it) all students should work their butts out to produce scintillating displays for the Dip and Deg Studio 3 Final Presentations forthcoming. All the Best All !

What Will Matter

Michael Josephson

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 is 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.

© 2003, Josephson Institute of Ethics
(http://www.inspirationpeak.com/cgi-bin/stories.cgi?record=44)

pic: My dad in front of the house he built that decided my career, March 2010, a week before my mom died

TIME OUT - GOD?

God?

I certainly don't think most adults could explain this more beautifully!

THIS IS FABULOUS!!!

It was written by an 8-year-old named Danny Dutton, who lives in Chula Vista , CA . He wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to ' explain God. ' I wonder if any of us could have done as well ?
[ ... And he had such an assignment, in California , and someone published it, I guess miracles do happen ! ... ]


EXPLANATION OF GOD:

' One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn ' t make grownups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn ' t have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers. '


' God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off. '


' God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn ' t go wasting his time by going over your mom and dad ' s head asking for something they said you couldn't have. '


' Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista . At least there aren't any who come to our church. '

' Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him But he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said O.K. '


' His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn't have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So he did. And now he helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important. '


' You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time. '

' You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God!


Don ' t skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong. And besides the sun doesn ' t come out at the beach until noon anyway. '


' If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared, in the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids. '


' But...you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and he can take me back anytime he pleases...


And...that's why I believe in God. '

(Received today from my good friend, BHY, with thanks)