"In the End...."

Ready or not,
some day it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes,
hours or days.

It won't matter where
you came from
or what side of the
tracks you lived on
at the end.

It won't matter whether
you were beautiful
or brilliant.

Even your gender and
skin color will
be irrelevant.

What will matter is not
your success but your significance.

What will matter is not
what you learned but what you taught.
What will matter is
every act of integrity, compassion
and courage.

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 loss when
your are gone.

Living a life that
matters doesn't happen
by accident.

It's not a matter of
circumstance but
of CHOICE.