Mr. Mona Al -Alawi
Which is preferred: to add years to your life? Or do you add life to your years?
What do you choose to leave behind: a huge fortune? Or a good biography?
And it is imagined that a person is said after his departure: “The servants relaxed from him” instead of “may God have mercy on him” …
Have you heard about a man who read his obituary in the newspaper while he is still alive?
Finally, you and you, the reader, what will each of us remember?
Questions seem separate, but they are in one question:
What is the good life that we would like to live, and our people cherish when our name is mentioned?
I return to 1888, when Ludwig Nobel, the brother of Alfred Nobel, died of dynamite inventor, and a French newspaper published a mistake, thinking that the deceased was Alfred, so the title came shocking: «Le Marchand de la Mort est Mort».
That is, “the dealer of death has died.” The Nobel had recorded the invention of dynamite in 1867 for civil uses, such as the tip of roads and mining, but later it was used in wars, and he lost many souls, and the Nobel Rak from behind this trade is a huge fortune, so he gained a hideous title: the dealer of death! Nobel may ask then: “Is this how I will be reminded after my death?”
Whether this event is the only motivation or not in its awakening, the outcome is that he recommended that most of his wealth be allocated to establish an award granted to those who serve humanity in the fields of peace, science, medicine, etc., and since 1901, his name has been associated with the Nobel Prize as the highest international awards. Imagine if this award was not established, and he actually died with the reputation of the death dealer !!
Which legacy would he leave? How embarrassing will be inflicted on his family and country !! But he chose what he immortalized with honor.
In the book “DIE With Zero” by Bill Perkins, a related idea, that life is not with the accumulation of wealth, but with the richness of experiences, so that it reaches the end of your life, and you invested your time, owner and energy in what gives you happiness and memories, not just financial balances.
It is deep experiences that give one horizon and human view, and the pursuit of meaning. The most important of the number of years we live is the size of the life we add in those years, with love, science, giving, and serving others. Let us think about who will inherit our name after us: our children, our homeland, our society .. Will we mention a source of shame? Or a good news for them?
The Prophet of God, Abraham, peace be upon him, called: “And make a tongue for me in others.” Let us make a life that leaves a good legacy.
