“As you travel life’s journey, keep on asking yourself two questions: Is what I am thinking and doing hurting anyone? Is it helping anyone?”
—Steve Tanner
When famous people are asked how they would like to be remembered after they die, a common response is, “I want to be remembered as someone who made a difference.” I think many of us feel that way. We want to think that it mattered that we lived on this earth. We want to be sure that, at least, the world is no worse because we lived, and we hope that it is a little better because of us.
Most of us are just ordinary people whose names will never show up in history books. Nevertheless, we will be remembered for a long time by those people with whom we have had contact. Will they remember us favorably, or will they remember us as people who took more from this life than we gave? Will we stand out in their minds as friendly and caring people, or will they remember how we hurt others? Some of us might not care how we are remembered, but I think most of us would like to be remembered in a favorable light.
If we are concerned about the impact we have on our fellow travelers, we will try to live our lives in such a way that our actions will not hurt anyone. We will want to live in a way that will benefit others. We will do a lot of self-evaluation in an effort to review the effects that our lives have had on others, and we will plan to live even more productive and helpful lives in the future.
We must constantly remember that we are all traveling on the same ship of life, and we all have a responsibility to help keep that ship afloat. Therefore, we must keep focused on what is best for society as a whole, instead of just focusing on what is best for us. We all have moments of strength and moments of weakness during our journey through life. When we experience weakness, and stumble and fall, we welcome the helping hands that are extended to us by others. When we are walking in darkness because our candles have been extinguished, we are grateful for those who restore light to our lives. Since life is a two-way street, we must be willing to reciprocate by extending helping hands to others who are down and doing everything within our power to bring sunshine to those who are living in darkness.
It is hard for me to imagine why some people seem to go out of their way to hurt others, but I do know that there are such people. We should all be grateful for all those loving people who spread sunshine throughout their journey through life, and I think we should want to be like them.
Think about it.
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Copyright 2016
Allen W. Smith
