Friday, April 24, 2009

My Six Word Life Story



"For sale. Baby Shoes. Never worn.”

Back in the 1920’s, the great writer, Ernest Hemingway made a $10.00 bet with someone that he could write a complete story in six words. He won the bet with the above words. Never have six words been more thought provoking, or conveyed such strength of meaning.

The online magazine, Smith, has used the Hemingway anecdote to inspire its readers to write their own life stories in just six words. This effort has resulted in a book of the best contributions, entitled "Not Quite What I Was Planning".

I began to think about how could I sum up my own life in six words. What is my six word life story? I’ve been many places and have had many wonderful experiences . . . some good, some bad, other’s boring and many were quite sad. A handful were heartwarming and exciting...well, at least they were to me.

Here are some of the wonderful examples of six word life stories that people submitted. I find them quite fascinating.

Even the stars look lonesome tonight.

Some days are better than others.

Life: Why do I even bother?

Conceived, implored, employed, adored, retired, ignored.

Still waiting for it to begin.

Stars shine brightest in dark skies.

If only I had turned left.


She loved. He didn't. How typical.

Waited. Met. Connected. Lived. Happily. Everafter.

Seventh Day, God rested, Satan didn't.

Strife? Regardless, we remain a team.

Dandelion never saw the weedwacker coming.

I lost everything. CEO got bonus.

And so this evenning I began to ponder what my six line life story would be. It’s a lot to take in. And though that sentence is just six words, that's not my story. And then it came to me . . . joy is coming in the morning.

That is my six word life story....

What We Pass On


As the birthday of my mother--who died unexpectedly at the age of 59-- nears, I am once again reminded of a sobering, yet simple, lesson I learned during that time. It was during that lonely, heartbreaking period that I truly realized what the old cliche “you can’t take it with you” really means.

I realized this as I said goodbye to her for the very last time. As I held her cold, lifeless hands---the soft, gentle hands that changed my diapers and dried my tears for many, many years. Somewhere, I thought, there’s a handbag with a MasterCard and probably a Visa in it, each bearing her name, but when you’re lying in a satin-lined whitewashed oak box with every drop of life sustaining blood drained from your body, no one accepts MasterCard.

We all know that life is ephemeral, but on that particular day and in the months that followed, my shattered spirit got a painful but extremely valuable look at life’s simple backstage truths. A soul shaking reminder of what’s important and what’s not. Things like, we come in naked and broke. We may be dressed when we go out, but we’re just as broke. Bill Gates? Going to go out broke. Warren Buffet? Going to go out broke. Oprah Winfrey? Broke. Not a crying dime.

All the money you earn, all the stocks you buy, all the mutual funds you trade—all of that is mostly smoke and mirrors. It is still going to be a quarter-past getting late whether you tell the time on a Timex or a Rolex. No matter how large your bank account, no matter how many credit cards you have, sooner or later things will begin to go wrong with the only three things you have that you can really call your own: your body, your spirit and your mind.

With that thought in mind, perhaps one should consider making their life one long gift to others. And why not? All we have is on loan anyway, and all that really lasts is what we pass on.

Charity indeed begins at home. If we are blessed to be able to pay for the college educations of our children then we have done a wonderful thing. If we can give them a further start in life—a place in business, help with a home, so much the better. Because charity begins at home. And up to a certain point, at least–-we are all responsible for the lives we add to the world.

Giving isn’t about the receiver or the gift but, rather, it’s about the giver. It’s for the giver. One doesn’t open one’s wallet or heart to improve the world, although it’s nice when that happens; one does it to improve one’s self. I give because it is the only concrete way of saying that I’m glad to be alive and that I can earn my daily bread doing something that I really enjoy. I love because, as the old addage say’s, ‘it’s not really love until it’s given away.’ Giving has way of taking the focus off ourselves and our own needs and putting it back where it belongs—on the lives we lead, the special people we love, the communities that nurture us.

A life of giving—not just time and money, but love—repays. It helps us remember that although we are going out broke, for right now, well, we’re doing okay. Right now we have the power to do great good for others and for ourselves and to love like we’ve never loved before. And why should we hold back? It's certainly can't be because we’re saving it to take with us.

As for me, well, I choose to give and to love now. With ever fiber of my being I will invest my soul. Because I have learned, nothing else really matters...