Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten will pass to someone else. Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned, or what you owed. Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to do list will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important, will fade away. It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant, Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant. SO WHAT WILL MATTER? HOW WILL THE VALUE OF YOUR DAYS BE MEASURED? What will matter is not your success, but how hard you tried. What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught. What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched,empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example. What will matter is not your competence, but your character. What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting losswhen you're gone. What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you. What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
LIVING A LIFE THAT MATTERS DOES NOT HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT.IT'S NOT A MATTER OF CHANCE, BUT OF CHOICE. CHOOSE TO LIVE A LIFE THAT MATTERS.
Written by: Michael Josephson Published in: Fr. Reuter's Column
I was a third-grader in Orion, Bataan when the 1955 total solar eclipse took place.
Days before that much-awaited scientific phenomenom, we were taught by our Science teacher, to blacken pieces of glass with soot from esperma or lampara. Those were to be used when looking upward directly to the sky, without damaging our eyesight. Those who have no pieces of glass (which were quite rare then) were told to fill palangganas with tubig, to watch the eclipse through the reflection on the water.
There were no television sets yet then. Electricity was only available from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. so there was no live telecast of any event, which is commonplace now. We were all out on the streets, waiting anxiously for what will happen. We were able to see the slow movement of the moon as it covered the sun. The cocks and the hens cockled, because it was pitch-dark, parang gabi na. Women,including my mother and lola, dropped to their knees, praying aloud," Panginoon, iluwa po sana ng buwan ang araw." They even prayed The Angelus after that. We were all so happy that the prayer for "the moon to spit out the sun" was granted by God. We knew that our prayer was granted, because the sun came out again. We all rejoiced at the effectiveness of our prayer.
Back to school the day after that eclipse, we were asked to share our experience and observations, through story-telling or informal themes.
It is so disappointing that I was not able to witness the last eclipse. However, I am comforted with the thought that at least, I was able to experience one in my lifetime. I am 61 years old and counting, but that 1955 total solar eclipse is so vivid in my memory, as if it happened only yesterday.
