Start your day being Thankful, Grateful, Patient, Kind, and with a Smile, as it is infectious.
To live a life that if I should pass tomorrow, the news would bring a tear, my name would make you share a smile or a laugh in the telling of a funny story. Live each day the best version of yourself, being Thankful, Grateful, and the best Son, Sibling, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Friend, and Neighbor in their eyes for sure, but more importantly in God’s eyes.
Nothing else really matters, the money, the houses, the cars, the clothes, those things are all nice, but eventually we all only really need one nice suit, dress, pair of shoes, and socks, and a peaceful place to rest when our time is done. It reminds me of a poem that bids you to reflect on this, called “The Dash.”
It’s about the thing you see between your birth year and the last day! How in the dash it represents a lifetime lived. If you have the time read the poem below by Linda Ellis
The Dash
- Linda Ellis
- 1996
- Approx. 2 minutes
I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on the tombstone
From the beginning…to the end
He noted that first came the date of birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years
For that dash represents all the time
That they spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved them
Know what that little line is worth
For it matters not, how much we own,
The cars…the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.
So, think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
That can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect
And more often wear a smile,
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash…
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent YOUR dash?
OverView
The poem uses the ‘dash’ symbol between birth and death dates on a tombstone to represent the entirety of a person’s life. It emphasizes that the quality of that life – how we love, connect, and treat others – is far more important than its duration or material possessions, urging listeners to live their own ‘dash’ meaningfully.
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