Good-bye
“You’ve changed me forever. And I’ll never forget you.” _Kiera Cass, The Elite
*****
I read the other day of a man named Samuel Bratt, whose wife had no doubt badgered him about his smoking, who bequeathed her £333,000 under the condition that she smoke five cigars a day.
The German poet Heinrich Heine displayed similar feelings about his wife: he left his estate to her on the condition that she remarry to ensure that “there would be at least one man to regret my death.”
It looks like those fellows must have lived a rather unhappy life. There’s no question that people were unhappy when they departed.
That got me to thinking…
How do you want things to be when you exit the stage?
I think this is a question we need to ask more often than we do.
I think it is a question that should influence how we live our lives now.
For assuredly, one day we will have to say good-bye. It may be the final good-bye or it may be saying good-bye as you move on to the next leg of your life-journey.
Life is a long series of saying good-bye. The better we get at it the better things will be when we’re gone.
Notice I didn’t ask, “How will people remember you?”
Hopefully they will remember you kindly, but that’s not the question. The question is, “How will things be?”
Will people be better off because you showed up? As the scout motto askes, “Will the campsite be in better condition than you found it?”
The ONE THING for today: So much of what we do has such a short shelf-life. In the midst of all the urgency of today, let’s not forget to build something that will last.
