“Life isn’t
made up of the breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away.”
The world
works in mysterious ways. Our population grows and our connectedness to each
other diminishes. Technology advances, sheep get cloned, and far away galaxies are
discovered, while our senses are overloaded by amazing visuals and sound right
in our own homes. Movies transport us to those galaxies and we can experience
things in IMAX. Our sense of awe has been so inundated and overexposed that one
can easily miss the everyday wonders that fill the surroundings.
Children
watch movies in the car, not the passing of the seasons. Dinner comes in paper
bags handed out windows. The forgotten elderly sit in homes with others who
have no family or no one to claim them. The destitute and deranged are left to
their own devices.
When lives
are remembered and loved ones pass on, what will be the measure of that man or
woman? What imprint on history will we leave? Busy schedules and busy lives
leave very little room for living. Living in the moment of a beautiful day, breathing
in the tenderness of a good bye hug or fully enjoying the laughter shared with
friends. Are we truly living lives capable of taking our breath away?
Our greatest
triumph as the human race will not be the leaps and bounds we make in the great
sciences or the ability to accumulate material wealth. Our triumph will be to
fill a world with goodwill even if society may tell us there is nothing to be
gained by it. Our triumph will be our treatment of those less fortunate than
ourselves. Our imprint will be the degree of selflessness we teach our children
and in turn the wonderful cataclysmic effect that humble attitude will have on
generations to come.
If life is
to be measured, let it not be by our own good fortune but by the simple acts of
kindness we extend to all we meet. How many people have you made gasp in
wonderful surprise from the simple kindness you offered?
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