Wow, thanks for sharing something so close to your heart. This was precious. Not really Axie related, but it tells me that the bond that is forming in this community is breaking out from simply a common interest and spilling over to life itself. If I may, though it might not have what you intended, I hear a yearning coming from some place deep, reaching for something much bigger but not quite knowing yet what it is.

Your post stirred emotions in me and caused me to pause and think. I wanted to share a quote attributed to someone successful who worked hard, achieved success but said this on his death bed at the age of 56. I wasn't able to verify its authenticity, and some even say that it is false, but I thought that it is worth thinking about even if it was fake.

In others' eyes, my life is the essence of success, but aside from work, I have little joy, and in the end wealth is just a fact of life to which I am accustomed. At this moment, lying on the bed, sick and remembering all my life, I realize that all my recognition and wealth that I have is meaningless in the face of imminent death
- Steve Jobs

✔️ Had a goal and purpose
✔️ Adored by many, successful & wealthy
✔️ Made an impact in many lives and this world
❌ Emptiness filled, found meaning

I thought long and hard before posting this comment because I have been made to understand that it might be an unpopular view, and even offensive to some. Hope this is not against community rules, if it is, please forgive me.

Maybe our goals - wealth, success, and making a difference for others only numbs us, and that deep yearning within us returns to surprise us at the point of death. Maybe tragedy is a blessing because it reminds us that there is more to life - something that cannot be found in or of ourselves, or even others. Maybe death is not the end of us, simply the end of this journey here as we know it. Maybe God is real, and within each of us exists an emptiness that yearns for our creator, a yearning for something we can't quite put our finger on, a yearning to know who He is.

I often wonder whether life would have value if I lost all my faculties and had no ability to do anything. Would I be valuable if all I could do was lie down somewhere? My answer now is yes, because my worth is not tied to my status or what I am able to achieve or do for others. I am precious because I am made in the image of my Creator, He loves me. The mess in my life does not affect my worth in the eyes of my Creator. It is not the fear of DEATH that drives me, but this security I have found in understanding my LIFE’s inherent value that drives me to want to do something for others so that they know that they are loved and are precious too.

Maybe we have been lied to. Maybe the pursuit of building a 'worthy' life is the stumbling block that has prevented us from celebrating life's inherent worth - our own worth and what others are worth. Doesn't mean that we don't strive to be better or have no goals, we do and we must forge ahead every day. But our goals and striving for something better cannot fill the emptiness within. So many have made it in life, reached every goal possible but found that they were still empty in the end. That I believe is beyond us my friend, that price has been paid, available freely to all who would receive it.

Maybe that’s what we find most offensive, being told that something is beyond what we can achieve. Takes humility to acknowledge our need for someone beyond us. Maybe we aren’t meant to take the shots life fires at us on our own. To AM (I can’t get myself to call you axiemoron, you are not a moron, so I’ll call you AM for short lol) and anyone who reads this comment, please know that God loves you and you are precious, and something deep within you knows this and reaches out for THE ONE who has reached out to you. Thank you for sharing your heart!