I realized its been quite quiet…actually very quiet here. I have been ill among many misadventures for the past few weeks. So please excuse my silence. These few days meeting up with my friends and exchanging stories, the same core element of virtues seem to be the main theme.
We all talk about being somebody in life, earning a good paycheque, having a rewarding career, having a good family, etc. but how many of us actually realize about living well? I mean its not wrong to be higly ambitious and to choose a life to pursue these dreams but it would be wrong to make it your sole priority. I discovered this the hard way, by falling ill and realizing that pain is something that people can just sympathize with you but not something the people will ever understand. In fact, I think I admire those people in hospitals who have been putting up with the extreme pain and yet still go on in life.
But I digress.
Living well should be our priority. Loving God and doing our best to ensure that there is still purity and goodness in this day and age. Because ultimately when we die, people rarely say how rich or how poor we are. The people who would truly miss us and who are truly grateful for our existence would be the people whom we have helped, the lives whom we have touched and our virtues and respect would preservere. I think that is paramount to our existence. That builds our legacy.
Fortunes are made and lost overnight but a legacy of respect, trust, and integrity lasts for a lifetime.
I think the orbituary below (courtesy of Robin Sharma’s Blog) describes about the things that matters that count in life. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
DECLARATIONS
By PEGGY NOONAN
A Life’s Lesson
June 20, 2008; Page A9
When somebody dies, we tell his story and try to define and isolate what was special about it—what it was he brought to the party, how he enhanced life by showing up. In this way we educate ourselves about what really matters. Or, often, re-educate ourselves, for “man needs more to be reminded than instructed.”
I understand why some think that the media coverage surrounding Tim Russert’s death was excessive—truly, it was unprecedented—but it doesn’t seem to me a persuasive indictment, if only because what was said was so valuable.
The beautiful thing about the coverage was that it offered extremely important information to those age 15 or 25 or 30 who may not have been told how to operate in the world beyond “Go succeed.” I’m not sure we tell the young as much as we ought, as clearly as we ought, what it is the world admires, and what it is they want to emulate.
In a way, the world is a great liar. It shows you it worships and admires money, but at the end of the day it doesn’t. It says it adores fame and celebrity, but it doesn’t, not really. The world admires, and wants to hold on to, and not lose, goodness. It admires virtue. At the end it gives its greatest tributes to generosity, honesty, courage, mercy, talents well used, talents that, brought into the world, make it better. That’s what it really admires. That’s what we talk about in eulogies, because that’s what’s important. We don’t say, “The thing about Joe was he was rich.” We say, if we can, “The thing about Joe was he took care of people.”
The young are told, “Be true to yourself.” But so many of them have no idea, really, what that means. If they don’t know who they are, what are they being true to? They’re told, “The key is to hold firm to your ideals.” But what if no one bothered, really, to teach them ideals?
After Tim’s death, the entire television media for four days told you the keys to a life well lived, the things you actually need to live life well, and without which it won’t be good. Among them: taking care of those you love and letting them know they’re loved, which involves self-sacrifice; holding firm to God, to your religious faith, no matter how high you rise or low you fall. This involves guts, and self-discipline, and active attention to developing and refining a conscience to whose promptings you can respond. Honoring your calling or profession by trying to do within it honorable work, which takes hard effort, and a willingness to master the ethics of your field. And enjoying life. This can be hard in America, where sometimes people are rather grim in their determination to get and to have. “Enjoy life, it’s ungrateful not to,” said Ronald Reagan.
Tim had these virtues. They were great to see. By defining them and celebrating them the past few days, the media encouraged them. This was a public service, and also what you might call Tim’s parting gift.
I’d add it’s not only the young, but the older and the old, who were given a few things to think about. When Tim’s friends started to come forward last Friday to speak on the air of his excellence, they were honestly grieving. They felt loss. So did people who’d never met him. Question: When you die, are people in your profession going to feel like this? Why not? What can you do better? When you leave, are your customers—in Tim’s case it was five million every Sunday morning, in your case it may be the people who come into the shop, or into your office—going to react like this? Why not?
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