Live a life that matters by Michael Josephson

I am a fan of Michael Josephson and his Character Counts website commentaries. A friend, Inez sent me the following article and I am reposting here to share with you. By the way, above photo was taken late last year on a holiday - Santa Monica pier in California, on a "not so sunny day" but for this one-legged seagull it doesn't seem to matter - it already made a choice.

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WHAT WILL MATTER by Michael Josephson

Ready or not, someday 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 on what side of the tracks you lived, 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.

Sometimes Faith Can Do Miracles by Michael Josepson

“Coach, why are we doing this?”

Grapevine Faith’s (TX) high school football coach replied, “Imagine if you didn’t have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you.”

In Rick Reilly’s moving ESPN.com story of how one simple gesture by a teacher-coach can change lives forever, he described what took place on a remote field last November in the little town of Grapevine, Texas.

Kris Hogan, coach of the 7-2 Grapevine Faith, wanted to do something special for his visiting opponent, the 0-8 Gainesville State Tornadoes, whose players weren’t having a good year in more ways than one. He contacted Faithful fans and exhorted them to split up for the game – he wanted half of them to root for the visitors this one night only.

When Gainesville took the field, a 40-yard spirit line of Faith fans were lined up for them to run between, and a GO TORNADOES! banner was at the end for them to burst through. Two hundred Faithful fans awaited them in the visitor’s bleachers and cheered for them the entire game.

“I thought maybe they were confused,” said a Gainesville lineman afterward. “They started yelling ‘DEE-fense!’ when their team had the ball. I said, ‘What?’”

Melinda Wright Gainesville State players douse their coach, Mark Williams after the game.

After the game, which Gainesville lost once again, players from both teams gathered at midfield to pray. Leading it was a Gainesville player named Isiah.

“Lord, I don’t know how this happened so I don’t know how to say thank you,” he said. “But I never would have known there were so many people in the world who cared about us.”

As the visitors walked off the field, Faith’s players watched silently as 12 armed officers escorted the boys into their bus. As they stepped aboard, Faith supporters handed each of them a bag for the ride home. In each one were a hamburger, fries, candy, a soda, a Bible, and a personal letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach went up to coach Hogan and said, “You’ll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You’ll never, ever know.”

Every Tornadoes football game is on the road because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility. We’ll let Reilly recount the rest of the story:

As the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they’d never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

With the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it’s nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free. Hope."

-from Michael Josephson's charactercounts

The Road to Significance by Michael Josephson

"The most traditional way to measure the quality of one’s life is to list accolades, achievements, and acquisitions. In its simplest terms, success is getting what we want, and most people want wealth and status. Yet as much pleasure as these attributes can bring, the rich, powerful, and famous usually discover that true happiness will elude them if they don't have peace of mind, self-respect, and enduring loving relationships.

Peace of mind doesn’t preclude ambition or desire for material possessions or high position, but it assumes a fundamental foundation of contentment, gratitude, and pride – a belief that whatever one has is enough and an active appreciation for the good things in life.

Feeling successful can generate satisfying emotions of self-worth, but feeling significant – that one’s life really matters – is much more potent. Peter Drucker, the great management guru, captured this idea when he wrote of the urge many high achievers have to "move beyond success to significance. "

The surprise for many is that one of the surest roads to significance is service. It doesn’t have to be of the Mother Teresa missionary variety. Parents who sacrifice their comfort and pleasure for their children are performing a service, as are teachers, public-safety professionals, members of the military, and volunteers who work for the common good.

In addressing graduates, Albert Schweitzer said, "I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts."

My comment: This reminds us why billionaire Bill Gates is giving away his fortune. Rich men like him knows the significance of service to others, of giving his material wealth as well as his time.

But we need to be of service to others and give out of love for our fellow human beings, not to be just significant or feel "important". To quote apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians (2 Conrinthians 13):

"If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body [to hardship] that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."

To read more inspirations by Michael Josephson, please click here to visit his "Character Counts" commentaries.