What Will Matter

Ready or not, some day 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 what you 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 or skin colour 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 lived 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.