what will matter

A place to share ideas, concerns, questions, and thoughts about women and the martial arts.

Moderator: Available

Post Reply
User avatar
Dana Sheets
Posts: 2715
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2002 6:01 am

what will matter

Post by Dana Sheets »

For the past couple of months I've been working my way through bits an pieces of an online micro-mba developed for non-profit managers and leaders. It is a useful though somewhat difficult to navigate resource.

One module is on ethics.
http://www.managementhelp.org/ethics/et ... nchor43623
And one part included examples of ethical values
(the following list is the "Six Pillars of Character" developed by The Josephson Institute of Ethics, 310-306-1868):
a) Trustworthiness: honesty, integrity, promise-keeping, loyalty
b) Respect: autonomy, privacy, dignity, courtesy, tolerance, acceptance
c) Responsibility: accountability, pursuit of excellence
d) Caring: compassion, consideration, giving, sharing, kindness, loving
e) Justice and fairness: procedural fairness, impartiality, consistency, equity, equality, due process
f) Civic virtue and citizenship: law abiding, community service, protection of environment
I hadn't heard of the Josephson Institute before so I went and visited their website.
http://www.josephsoninstitute.org/about.html

And it turns out I had seen their materials before. I'd seen their "character counts" t-shirts on kids in some of the schools I've visited to videotape. The program promotes ethical thinking and action in kids based on their Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

And I also found the poem below, which got me thinking about a few things. Especially after reading Fred's account of losing his neighbor and student in Iraq, especially after visiting with my niece and nephew and others in my family over the holiday weekend, especially for many other reasons. So I thought it might give other folks things to think about and maybe even push folks (like me) into doing a few things that have been left behind for another day.
WHAT WILL MATTER
By Michael Josephson

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours, or days.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to
someone else.
Your wealth, fame, and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.

It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally
disappear.
So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.

The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you
lived, at the end.
It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you
got, but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice
that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a
lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those
who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of
circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.
Did you show compassion today?
maxwell ainley
Posts: 1690
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2001 6:01 am
Location: england

Post by maxwell ainley »

What matters is we have methodology to equate those six pilliars of character .

What matters is we carry out the methodology .

What matters is we don't give up ,once we engage a methodology .

What matters is we are vigilant to the methodology ,without vigilance there is no six pillars of character ,we would be carried away in the ebb and flow of life .

What matters is they don't become just empty words on
paper that never get into action .
max ainley
2Green
Posts: 1503
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 1999 6:01 am
Location: on the path.

Post by 2Green »

Amen Dana, Amen Max.

I think I might print that off and stick it up on my door at work.

What a wonderful, profound piece of prose.

~N~
The music spoke to me. I felt compelled to answer.
Post Reply

Return to “Women and the Martial Arts”