This was a saying I heard for the very first time from my dad years ago when I was much younger and back then I would admit I had no idea the applicability of these words but as I grow older and understood better I realized these simple words would be a great measuring scale for me.
The world we live in today is full of struggles, we struggle to survive, to be rich, to earn respect, to build prestige, and even to live healthy which is all perfect because let's face it our desires are not wrong but the mentality that all of these things are the only way for true fulfillment in life lays our problem.
I am not against earning respect, building a reputation, or making money because I as well desire all of these plus more but my question is should this be all we desire out of life?.
Let's take a look at the life of a man who struggled daily for year's to make a name for himself in society, he had both money and power and his family was always envied by others because they wore expensive clothes, drove flashy cars, and had exotic homes all over the world but one day this man was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and in a bid to save his life his family spent virtually everything they had to save him but unfortunately, even that wealth wasn't enough as he succumbed to death after fighting his illness for 3 long and painful years .his death left his family with nothing and the most painful of it all was when the community they lived in refused to offer any help to his family, why? because according to everyone else except his immediate family although he was a rich man he was greedy enough to trample on the poor to get to where he was and so stingy he never helped anyone no matter how much you begged him.
This man is like a lot of us today who just WANT!!! But at the back of our minds, we shouldn't forget that we are not meant to live in this world forever so while we gather all of the wealth we can one day we will leave it all behind.
My father likened the entire world to one giant marketplace in which all of us are here to buy or sell and when it's night (end of our lives)we all must go home and thanks to these words I decided that while I struggle to get I will in return cultivate a habit of giving back.
what would be better than onowing when we leave this world that people remember us for the good we have done, for the positive impacts we made in the life of others and how we lend a hand in elevating the sufferings of those around us to the best of our ability and means 😊 now that is a legacy I truly wish to live as my footprint in the sands of time that would never be forgotten what about you?.
Thank you for taking out the time to read my post 😘
Photo credit : Diego lozana & Megan mcfadden on unsplash.