Feeling a little or a lot sentimental this evening, I am thinking about what it’s all about.
If life isn’t about (and for) doing good, even great, things, then I am barking up the wrong tree.
So, what is great, or even good? Does it mean becoming someone like Steve Jobs? He was apparently so enamored of his own greatness, or at least genius, that he rarely ever listened to others. He was certainly no great philanthropist. On the other hand, it’s hard for me to remember or imagine what life was like before the Apple products changed personal computing and communications. He opened up the world to so many people.
I think, though, that genius is not as important as love. It’s what motivates, stirs the imagination, and helps people persevere through the most difficult times. Love gets the tired parent up in the middle of the night to tend to an ill child, prompts one spouse to work longer or harder so the other can rest, inspires a stranger to reach out to help another. The list is long, the tasks whether small or large are powerful, and the results are often miraculous.
It’s what gets us through times of loss, which I am sure the Jobs family is experiencing, and what many others who knew him or followed his journey will go through as the reality, the finality, of his death hits. Loss is a motivator, too — wanting to make a difference before it’s too late, to leave something behind. But what?
For me, it’s about learning, but not selfish, sponge learning. It’s about learning that allows people to do or be better than they were. To learn to write in order to communicate. To learn to listen in order to hear. To learn to consider, to weigh evidence, to explore. To learn to get along even while standing up for those non-negotiable issues and projects that light up our lives. We learn, and then we do. We learn, and we become. We learn and our lives, and the lives of those around us, are made better.
What’s it all about?
It’s about living, in the best ways we can, each of us becoming great in ways small or big.
Carpe diem. Each, and every day.