Unknown Author

For each of us eventually, whether we're ready or not
Someday it will come to an end.
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 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 will be measured?

What will matter is not what you’ve bought but what you’ve 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’ve learned but what you’ve taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, and sacrifice
That enriched and 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 with those who loved you.

A life lived that matters is not of circumstance but of choice.