Make your mark

Your choice :

Enjoy making your mark on the world and or enjoy the world’s mark it makes on you.

Either or both can be good and fulfilling ; measured by you , not the next person.

As you go through life‘s daily experiences, perhaps taking in the moment or thinking about longer-term goals along the way , what’s the scenario you most reflect on at the end of each day?

What I mean is the mark you leave on the world for most is unknown, delayed for other people, and may not be categorized as remarkable by some such as leaders, inventors, saints, etc. This may be more apparent if you are at an age of checking the obituaries more frequently in the varying ways, people put a life into a few paragraphs and what’s important to them or to those surviving.

Hopefully, you leave behind the respect, kindness, generosity with which you treat others as part of a legacy.

If you don’t have or take the apparent opportunity to influence others in the world, that’s just fine.

Maybe you have optimized your feelings and being a human in this world by travel, appreciating nature, artistic expression, spiritual beliefs, in actions that give you fulfillment, peace, and a sense of purpose.

The words someone uses to describe your life will not likely be captured in a few paragraphs, and it is not a competition

Determine your path to peace and happiness and go for it with all the hurdles and forks in the road.

Either way, a life cannot be summarized in a couple of paragraphs. Bios are written on the famous because we know how it turned out, but otherwise there are no biographies for the majority of the rest of us.

Take a stab at your own biography by journaling your path and reminding yourself of your short-term impressions of this great opportunity of life.

I recently came upon what I think is a terrific example of what I’m trying to convey or what looking back holistically on one’s life might capture for those left to read the summary:

It was an article of the Wall Street Journal of September 19, 2026 in the section called a “Humble Dollar” , started and written for many years by Jonathan Clements, who recently passed away. The article was written by his brother Andrew Clements, and was titled , “The Jonathan I Found :Through Other’s Eyes.” Here were close brothers and Andrew said he thought he knew his brother well.

And he acknowledges, he was wrong.

While the two brothers were very close, the point of this article was that there were so many different stages and experiences that Jonathan had over his life. There was no one person that could have understood all of it. The fact that Andrew , his brother ,in Jonathan‘s memory talked to a number of people that provided some insight and perspective on the various points , stages and developments of Jonathan’s life were eye-opening and ,while somewhat satisfying to know all of these things, at this point , a bit of remorse ,not understanding all of this while they both were alive and enjoying each other’s relationship and individual band width.

My point is to recognize and understand that most people have multiple layers and dimensions and you may enjoy taking the time to understand what those are by talking to your good friends, those that know them perhaps in a different way in a different light in a different time to fully appreciate the person they have become and the person you love.

If you know this person from college , maybe talk with your friends, work colleagues or high school friends.

So when you read a brief recap of someone’s life in a newspaper or online, certainly read it with a grain of salt and appreciate that it is likely the life that they wanted and lived :

while being a good person, a loyal sports fan , animal lover, hobbiest, philanthropist, and friend may not get a biography written about them or be noted by the world. However, they have left an impression and have experienced life, hopefully the way they wish to, and not the way that somebody else believes they should.

Dig deep ;

a life that sounds simple and may be lived with joy , empathy , generosity and fulfillment.

That sounds like a pretty good use of this time on earth.

Sort of like reading a book and the table of contents and skip to the last chapter and epilogue ….

Lots to learn and appreciate in between to get the whole picture/plot and impact .