“Do not be interested ONLY in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others” – Philippians 2:4 (The Bible)

Without clamoring for global publicity (wish I could…), I took some time out to really ponder on the fate of the over hundred teenage girls roughly abducted from their school, their families and their homes in the name of terrorism in Northern Nigeria….and really take stock of what the priorities in life really are and I have come to the sad conclusion that there are but two choices – choose to live or choose to die and inadvertently these two are inexplicably linked with each other because without life, there can be no death and for there to be life, there has to be death. And regardless of how much sentimental energies we may channel into vociferous debates about choices, we are still and will still be a function of whether we choose to live or die. And permit me to dwell upon the perspective that these phases are not limited to the physical breath we draw each day lest we forget that the physical is but a phase of life and whilst we may argue or sadly ignore this truth, the spiritual supersedes and inevitably influences the physical. There is so much more to life than meets the eyes.

“Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment” – Tony Robbins. In the brief hiatus I took from sharing on my blog, quite a number have literally ceased to live, translating from one phase to the other but have they ceased to exist in memories? I was reading an article by Rick Warren ‘Give the gift of attention!’ and I realized twas time to get back to doing what I should be doing and whilst sorrow yet ravages the hearts of many, wisdom is truly learned in the house of sorrow. One of the most popular disorders being claimed and labelled is the ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder and my view on this is that as long as the world orbits, man is naturally selfish and exploitative but my question is what have you truly chosen, life or death? So permit me to say that in my own opinion, we thrive on some form of attention be it a disorder or not ( and believe me when I tell you that I know first hand, what a disorder is – I struggle with Myoclonus, remember…) however the issue is not whether we are all victims of this disorder but how we have chosen to make our attention deprivation or lack influence our lives.

It is always a case of responding or reacting because we will always be buffeted by circumstances that want to evoke something in us that we can choose not to display, in response. I choose to make each day count for something because were it to be my last day, I would be glad to say that I have truly gained more than I have lost. For the billions of us that are seeking attention in one form or the other, by force or by subtle manipulation, by violence or peace, by giving or taking – we must all remind ourselves that where we are today will definitely not be where we will be tomorrow and I dare to surmise that it takes wisdom to truly apply ourselves to adding what we can to the lives of the people that we are surrounded by. It has taken me nigh on four decades to thoroughly appreciate this fact, a man wrapped up in himself makes a pretty small package but like the flowers of summer that so willingly give of themselves with each burst of wind, the more we give of ourselves, the more of beauty and sweet fragrance we derive. How much of folly is it when we choose to spend all of our attention on just one individual when there are millions of others that we can share a little interest in? Nobody can know everything about something but we can choose to learn something about everything. We can devote a few minutes each day, not even knowing if it is our last, to showing some interest in someone else and if only we do this, we will practically flip ADD from being a disorder to being a joy because we choose to add some joy into someone else’s life.

In a couple of weekends, fathers are going to be celebrated in the US……for giving, for adding – Father’s day! But wait a second and allow the reason sink in before the inebriation and giddiness – “The one thing about being a parent is the ability to be selfless: To give up the things you want and need for the benefit of someone else” – Danny McBride

Being selfless is a choice we each have to make every waking moment of our brief sojourn on this earth, and the question that will be asked as we are translated from this world is what are we going to be remembered for? What have we added to the lives of those that we were privileged to encounter? Have we being so overwhelmed with our own selves that we have added nothing pleasing and worth holding onto in the lives of others or have we taken a step back and made a choice to add some beauty and joy to another’s life and inevitably ours. Irrespective of what we hide behind; religion, time, culture, tradition, pride, ego, folly – someday, we will stand exposed and truly appraise ourselves for what we did with our lives. It does not have to make the news, but we can break some new ground beginning today and whilst we each struggle with our individual challenges and personal battles, let us remember this day that our lives are each a gift from God but how we choose to live it is our own way of saying thank you for that gift. Remember to add a positive into just one new person today and see where the attention truly lies.

I choose to. 

lמסתדר טוב עד שניפגש שוב בזמן שלו

Adios!