What will matter

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 will your hopes, ambitions, plans and to do lists expire too.

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 love 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.

要緊的事

不管有沒(méi)有準(zhǔn)備好，總有一天一切將走到終點(diǎn)。

不再有日出，不再有分鐘，不再有小時(shí)，也不再有日子。

所有你積攢的東西，不管是你所珍藏的的還是已遺忘的，都將歸屬于他人。

你的財(cái)產(chǎn)，榮譽(yù)和一時(shí)的權(quán)力終將枯竭，最后無(wú)關(guān)緊要。

你擁有的和你虧欠的都將毫無(wú)意義。

你的怨懟，憤恨，沮喪和嫉妒最終都會(huì)消失。

你的希望，抱負(fù)，計(jì)劃和安排同樣會(huì)終止。

你曾那么重視的輸贏也將褪去光彩。

你從何而來(lái)，臨終前要往何處去都已不再重要。

你是否美麗，是否聰慧也都無(wú)所謂。

甚至你的性別，膚色，最后都無(wú)關(guān)緊要。

那么到底什么才重要？你一生的價(jià)值將如何判定？

重要的是你創(chuàng)造了什么而非買(mǎi)到了什么，不是你擁有了什么，而是你付出了什么。

重要的是你的存在意義而非你的成功。

重要的是你教授的東西而非你學(xué)會(huì)的東西。

重要的是你正直、憐憫、勇敢、奉獻(xiàn)的舉動(dòng)豐富了他人的生活，令人以你為榜樣，為鞭策。

重要的是你的性格而非你的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力。

重要的不是你認(rèn)識(shí)多少人，而是你離開(kāi)時(shí)會(huì)有多少人深感痛苦。

重要的不是你自己的記憶，而是那些深?lèi)?ài)著你的人的記憶。

重要的是你會(huì)被銘記多久，是出于何種原因又是被何種人所銘記的。

過(guò)有意義的生活不是偶然而至的，它不由環(huán)境決定，只取決于你的選擇。

選擇過(guò)一種有意義的生活。