David Bowie, Alan Rickman and Peter von Rumohr brought it home. We’re not immortal.
Ideally, our parents see the first blink of our eyes and our children the last one. Between those two blinks, it’s up to us to do something worthwhile with our life.
Have a fruitful life
Leaving something behind for humanity. Helping people understand life a little bit better and inspire them to leave something too. A lot of people believe that the purpose of life is to make as much money as possible. Some people believe that if you made loads and loads of money and you’re able to leave some of that for your children, then you had a fruitful life.
I believe this is a great misconception. Yes, it happens to be the case that people like David Bowie or Alan Rickman accumulated wealth with their success, but I don’t believe that they set out to do that. It just came with their success and there is nothing wrong with being wealthy.
Leave something special behind
Above, I mentioned a man called Peter von Rumohr. Peter was a Tour Guide on the island of Ireland who came to Ireland 39 years before he died aged 63. He lived in and around Midleton in Co. Cork for all that time. Peter left a lot behind. He took people on a journey. Not just around Ireland, but through life. Peter did not accumulate a lot of money, but he died satisfied (With a few exceptions).
Live life and engage
We’re all able to leave something valuable. All we have to do is – engage. Engage with strangers and share our outlook on life. Exchange each other. I’m not talking about Facebook or Twitter, I’m talking about in person. Verbally. Or if you’re not of a verbal nature, in form of art. We have a lot in us, more than most of us are aware of.
Even if you feel that there’s nothing you can offer, think again. Engaging in voluntary work, for example, is giving something very valuable. We’re not all gifted artists and we don’t all have the gift of the gob, but we can all be compassionate about other people and show them that we’re there for each other.
