“Dave was the guy who loved a good joke!”
Well, of course I love a good joke. And I love telling good jokes, which, I might add, happens all the time. It’s uncanny. Even so, is humor my “What will you be known for?” attribute?
Let it be known that I’d like to be known for, not only how funny I am, but also how wise I am. I’m not interested in being the funniest person alive. I’m not capable of being the smartest. I just want to be remembered as joyful and thoughtful. And compassionate. and creative. And proactive. And restful. And all sorts of things.
Anyway, I was giving some thought to all this on my compute home from work. I was thinking about the obvious. We will never be known for anything worth being known for if we allow inconsequential things take up most of our attention.
I asked my oldest daughter, who has been riding horses for years now, “Would you rather have $10,000 or a horse?”“Does the horse come with tack, food, and medical supplies?”
“No, you have to pay for that. You just get either ten grand or a horse.”
She said she’d take the money, save it, get a job to earn more, and prepare for a time when she could really afford to own a horse. This made me feel all sweet inside. Rightfully so. She’s a great kid!
But the nutty thing is that, if instead of buying her countless Christmas and birthday gifts and odds and ends throughout the years (most of all of which she no longer has or no longer wants) we simply tucked the money away, she’d be able to afford a horse by now.
There is, of course, value in buying gifts. I’m not advocating a lifestyle of everyday stodginess in pursuit of someday happiness. Sometimes, though, we know the things we’d like to be known for. But we get ourselves distracted by things and activities of lesser concern. It’s not worth it.
As best as I can tell, there is only one surefire means to avoid whiling away life on things and activities you don’t want to be known for: sacrifice.



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