WHAT ARE YOU LIVING FOR & WHAT ARE YOU DYING FOR

“I want to change the world one life at a time, I want to leave my footprints in the sands of time. I want to have positive impact and influence. I want to give hope to the hopeless, love to the unloved, strength to the weak and light to those who are in the dark...

This might sound like a cliché, you know those things we all like to say (and I’m sure we’ve said many times over)but it’s how I truly feel as I write this.

One of the films that have greatly impacted my life is a film called “My Name is Khan”(if you haven’t seen it I recommend that you do). That to me is a film that teaches many lessons, one being we are all here on earth only to make another person’s life better.

In the midst of the plenty that we chase, (money, awards, materials possessions, lifes good pleasures etc), how do we live to ensure that we have a lasting impact on those that matter most- the PEOPLE around us.

That is ALL that matters; PEOPLE AND OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM.

When we die we live behind ALL that we have achieved. All those things are taken up by other people, but one thing stays; the thoughts, feelings, emotions that you left in someone’s heart (this can be good or bad)

We live in a time when we are defined by what we posses, and therefore its easy to forget the very essence of life, which is; who we are on the inside and how we relate with others.

Let Me ask, who are you, how would you identify yourself, how would you describe yourself (be true to yourself as you ponder and seek to answer these questions). Do the answers you get please you?

Someone said what would you like written on your grave stone when you die? The answer isn’t difficult, everyone wants something pleasant written about them. The question is “do you consciously live daily to ensure that what you’ve written would truly be engraved on that stone”. It’s easy to talk and write, but not easy to live what we write.

Re asses your life, and then ponder your death. Some say “don’t talk like this”” are you  wishing for death? Am not wishing for death but it’s a reality we live with!

My first encounter with death was at the age of 13. my brother who was 27 years old at that time died. I really didn't understand it, he slipped and fell and that was it. His life was over when it seemed like it was just starting.

I lost a dear friend in 2008, she was 24 years old with a promising life ahead of her. She died in a car accident and that was the end. It was at that point I truly began to understand the futility of life and the reality of death.

So many die every day, and while we don’t wish it for ourselves we need to realise that it can come anytime. So I ask what are you doing to ensure that if you pass on today, and of course people cry, they can also laugh and be content that yes you or me TOYIN lived a full life?

I will end with a quote “We will all die someday. Our goal should not be to live forever, but to create things and experiences that will”. SELAH