All That Matters
I learned about what matters in life not from my kindergarten teacher, but from my parents. Lessons began the day I was born and continue decades later. Here’s my list:
Children Matter
The child who is loved unconditionally, taught self-discipline, and had his needs met grows to be a compassionate member of society who doesn’t forget the needs of young or old, rich or poor.
Families Matter
Families are the backbone of all that is important—all that truly matters. No matter how you define “family,” regardless of how many generations you include or even the specific configurations of family members, when families are strong, communities are strong, too.
Traditions Matter
Traditions are the links from the past to the future. They tie together bygone generations with those yet to come, and help a child understand how he got to this point. The tradition itself is not as important as making and continuing that tradition. It becomes an ongoing symbol of family.
Principles Matter
Fighting for principles is not always easy or profitable—and it isn’t always a fight that is won. But in the end, it allows us to stand tall and know that we took the high road, that we identified the principles worth fighting for, and that some things are worth sacrificing to protect.
Education Matters
Education—whether formal schooling or individual pursuit of knowledge—expands our minds in ways that often allow us to expand our hearts and become more compassionate for those who are different from us. It gives us the tools to solve seemingly impossible problems, as well as the tools needed to cope when the problem can’t be solved. It allows us to connect the here-and-now with any other where or when of time.
Creativity Matters
Creativity is a corollary of sorts to education. When you encourage creativity—looking “outside the box”—then you create a pathway for your education to take on the road to solving those problems. Education stuffs the brain; creativity frees the brain to put the education in gear.
Pursuing a Dream Matters
Combine principles, education, and creativity, and you have the ingredients for charting a path towards dreams that matter. It compels us to keep moving forward into an uncertain future, made a little more certain when we keep the dream in focus.
Friends Matter
Friends help keep us on the path to our dreams. They laugh with us—and at us, cry with us, and help us refocus when principles seem elusive or climbing out of the “box” seems impossible.
Humor Matters
Laughter builds brain cells. It creates a sense of well-being. It keeps us going in that dream pursuit. And when we can laugh at ourselves, it makes us stronger and more impervious to unkind and mocking laughter.
Tears Matter
Tears shed keep us grounded in the well of humanity. They signal to others that we have a need that is crying to be met. They start and stop at will, in times of extreme happiness as well as sadness. Our eyes require constant washing of natural tears, perhaps to keep them in practice for the inevitable larger deluges that will come.
Connections Matter
The connections we make—mother to daughter, friend to friend, co-worker to co-worker, stranger to stranger—these build the tapestry of life. The stronger the connections, the more of them that exist, the stronger that fabric becomes and therefore the more impervious to disaster we become.
Love Matters
Love creates the safety net to fall back on when times are tough. And it creates a force field of sorts that protects us from harm. And it feels good. It is ageless—as critical to the newborn’s well-being as it is to the octogenarian. It’s warm, fuzzy, and provides comfort food for the soul.
Life Matters
© Melissa Clark Vickers 2013