“Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.” – Mark Twain
It’s been said many times but it bears repeating: “Life is short!” Even at its longest, a human life is but a blink of the eye in the face of eternity. Each of us would be considered extremely lucky to live even 100 years. Now, compare that number to the estimated age of the earth – 4,000,000,000 years. As you can see, the time in which we live on this planet will be insignificant.
However, this doesn’t mean that our lives are insignificant. The worth of a human life doesn’t depend upon its longevity. It depends upon what we do with the time we are allotted, whether it is a long time or a short time. It’s the dash between the years that makes the difference.
History is filled with examples of men and women who have impacted the course of history during the course of their dash. Some of these people lived long and full lives like Winston Churchill, whose leadership of England during World War II was instrumental in preventing Hitler’s domination of Europe. Churchill lived until the age of 90 and proved to be one of the most influential people of the 20th century.
On the other hand, Dr. Martin Luther King died at the age of 39, but not before leading a civil rights movement that would do more for racial equality in just one decade than had been accomplished in the previous 90 years combined. In fact, some of history’s greatest figures are men and women whose lives were all too brief. For instance, Joan of Arc didn’t live to see her 20th birthday. Mozart died at 35. Yet, each of these people literally changed the course of history in their short dash through eternity.
In fact, arguably the single most influential person of the last two millennia only lived to the age of 33. Moreover, little is known of his life until the age of 30. However, millions of people are still talking about those last three years. Of course, the man to whom I’m referring is Jesus of Nazareth.
Now, I understand that not everyone is destined to go down in the annals of history. However, that doesn’t mean we all can’t play a role in history. For every hero in our history books, there are 100 unsung heroes. An unsung hero taught Michelangelo how to hold a paint brush. An unsung hero taught Einstein how to perform basic arithmetic. An unsung hero taught Betsy Ross how to thread a needle. In fact, every person who has every excelled at anything had a teacher or a mentor, often several. Therefore, the key to making the most of your dash may not be to influence millions of people around the world but rather to influence one person in your world.
There is a wonderful story of a man who was walking along a beach one morning. Every few steps, he would bend down, pick up a starfish and throw it back into the ocean. A second man came upon the first and asked, “What are you doing?” “I am saving starfish,” replied the first man. The second man became incredulous. “Are you kidding? If you spent all day and night tossing starfish back into the ocean, you could never save them all. There are too many of them! Besides, in the grand scheme of things, they are just starfish. It doesn’t matter if they live or die.” In silence, the first man bent down, picked up another starfish and tossed it into the ocean. “It mattered to that one.”
How you live your dash matters to the people with whom you come into contact. It matters to your spouse. It matters to your children. It matters to your co-workers and clients. It matters to the members of your church or social organization. The purpose of this book is to help you to create as much meaning as possible out of your dash.
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