It’s good to have a phrase like, “Do something good every day for you and others. “Kindness is the best investment because it is about good feelings, good experiences and good consequences. However, sometimes we forget it in favor of something much less crucial and transcendental for our lives: money.
Not long ago, the media heard the news of an old woman who had fulfilled the curious promise she had made to her husband before he died, who asked to be buried with all the money he had accumulated throughout his life, and his wife, rather than a follower, fulfilled this task.
- When questioned by relatives.
- She said that she had deposited all the money into an account and that inside the coffin she had placed a check with the amount of that amount so that when she woke up she could go to get it back.
The truth is that it is not known whether this rich deceased will ever be able to show up at the banking branch with such intent, what we do know is that the metaphor of this story is enriching us, because it helps us to rethent the way we manage our lives.
In one of the interviews with Eduardo Punset, a great scientific presenter, he answered what his favorite quote or quote was and said that as a scientist he was impressed by a phrase he had read painted in one of the New York subway stations.
And he said, “There is life before death. ” Simple and disconcerting. It’s like saying “live kills,” but be careful, in prayer life comes before you die!
Following the thread of great thinkers, there is a certain consensus that the Western culture in which we are immersed has its foundations at certain points in history. One is Greece and its classical philosophy; another is the birth of Christianity and the influence it would have on philosophy.
From the need for control that all religions had over society, a Christianity emerged that referred to life in preparation for death, for the encounter with God.
One way or another, life presented itself as a gift, directing our gaze to the horizon, away from the clay that said we were walking, that is, we tried to survive so that we could live later, walk for an end and eternal reward.
Religion in the twentieth century lost much of its power, its ability to mark the way and to be heard and obeyed, yet in our way of seeing the world, there are still embers in this way of seeking our essence.
We keep looking at the horizon, educating our children to study, prepare, learn a lot, make a lot of money and be like 20 ants and this has nothing to do with the cicada of the famous children’s fable.
“The cicada was happy to enjoy the summer: the sun was shining, the flowers releasing its aroma?And the cicada sang and sang. Meanwhile, her friend and neighbor, a small ant, spent the day working and collecting food.
Don’t you get tired of working so hard?Do you rest with me while I sing something to you, said the cicada to the ant.
Would it be better if I put together supplies for the winter and stop wandering so much,” the ant replied, carrying the grain.
The cicada laughed and kept singing without paying attention to her friend, until the day he awoke she felt the intense cold of winter, the trees ran out of leaves and the snowflakes fell from the sky, while the cicadas roamed the countryside, cold and hungry; saw from afar the ant house of his neighbor and came to ask for help.
? Ant friend, I’m cold and hungry, wouldn’t you give me something to eat?You have a lot of food and a warm home, while I have nothing.
The ant opened the door slightly from his house and told the cicada
? Tell me something cicada friend, what did you do while I was working, what did you do while transporting wheat grain from here to there?
? Did you sing and sing in the sun? Replied the cicada.
Is that what you did? So, if you sang in summer, do you dance now during the winter?
And he closed the door for him, leaving out the cicada, who had learned a lesson.
Psychologists talk about existential crises, some ups and downs along the way that, at certain ages, confuse us, are moments when we look at each other’s feet and feel dizzy because we are not used to being aware that they are actually a reflection of time itself, they never stop.
“Don’t I want to be the richest man in the cemetery?What I care about is going to bed every night knowing we’ve done something wonderful. “
-Steve Jobs-
I’d say more than the New York subway phrase: there’s life earlier than we think life is, before we know much, before we have a lot of money, before you get married, retire or have children, there’s life. Before waking up tomorrow and this life are moments that do not need to follow the conception of the paths and steps that religion once prostrated and which even today, unknowingly, we assume as our own.
That’s why it’s better to do something good every day, because kindness is much more rewarding than money both in life and on its limits. Ultimately, we’re trying to sow to harvest, so the question is, what better way than to plant good to harvest riches?The answer is clear: no good feelings, at the end of our lives, right?Whatever.
That is why it is crucial that we keep this thought very in mind, as we repeat it: “Do something good today, because goodness gives us true life wealth, not money. “This will be our real reward: to live life.