Know Your Why

o answer the question, “What’s next?” we must look back and reflect on what happened. If we comprehend what occurred in the past and how we contributed to it, we can better prepare for what lies ahead. Here are some questions to ponder.

What three activities give you the most enjoyment? Steve Martin is a highly skilled and passionate banjo player. Beyoncé is a beekeeper who maintains two beehives. Hugh Jackman is a puzzle enthusiast. Drew Brees is a talented pickleball player. Both Ryan Gosling and Michelle Obama love to knit. Jennifer Garner plays the saxophone, while Susan Sarandon is a long-time ping pong enthusiast. Winston Churchill enjoyed painting landscapes. Dwight D. Eisenhower had a variety of hobbies, including painting, fishing, hunting, raising show cows, and playing bridge. Harry Truman was an avid pianist who enjoyed taking long, brisk walks.

What three things do you want written on your tombstone?

• Abraham Lincoln’s tombstone reads, “With malice toward none, with charity for all.” Above the stained-glass window in the burial room is the inscription, “Now he belongs to the ages.”
• F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tombstone includes the line, “So we beat on boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past,” a quote from The Great Gatsby that reflects themes of the novel.
• Ludolph van Ceulen, the Dutch mathematician, had his tombstone engraved with an extensive list of the decimal places of Pi 3.1415926535…  showing the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter.
• Martin Luther King, Jr: “Free at last, thank God almighty I’m free at last.”
• Robert Frost: “I had a lover’s quarrel with the world.”
• William Shakespeare: “Blessed be the man that spares these stones and cursed be he who moves my bones.”
• The Irish poet, William Butler Yeats: “Cast a cold eye on life, on death, horseman pass by.”
• Don Knotts: “He saw the poignancy in people’s pride and pain and turned it into something hilarious and endearing.”
• Joe DiMaggio: “Grace, dignity, and elegance personified.”
• Ronald Reagan: “I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph, and there is purpose and worth to each and every life.”
• Thomas Jefferson: “Here lies Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and the statutes establishing religious toleration in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
• Alexander Hamilton: “The patriot of incorruptible integrity, the soldier of approved valor, the statesman of consummate wisdom whose talents and virtues will be admired long after this marble has moldered into dust.”
• Rodney Dangerfield: “There goes the neighborhood.”
• Lester Moore: “Here lies Mr. Moore, 4 slugs from a .44, no less, no more.”
• Jonathan Blake: “Hear lines the body of Jonathan Blake stepped on the gas instead of the brake.”

What three things would you change about your life?

• Ken Jeong went from medicine to comedy and acting.
• Ina Garten changed from government work to cookbook writing and TV show hosting.
• Andy Weir switched from software engineering to science fiction novels.
• Jeff Bezos had a lucrative career in computer science on Wall Street before launching Amazon at 31.
• Ray Kroc spent his career as a milkshake machine salesman before buying McDonald’s at age 52 and growing it into the world’s largest fast food franchise.
• JK Rowling had just gotten a divorce and relied on government aid before publishing the first Harry Potter book. The novel was rejected dozens of times until finally, Bloomsbury, a small London publisher, gave it a second chance after the CEO’s 8-year-old daughter fell in love with it.

What three ways can you serve? Mother Teresa was a catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta. The Catholic Church canonized her on September 4, 2016. The following quotes tell how she filled the world with wonder:

• We fear the future because we are wasting today.
• Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.
• Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.
• Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
• Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
• The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.
• It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.
• A life not lived for others is not a life.
• I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.

Albert Schweitzer was a theologian, organist, and philosopher who gave up his musical career to study medicine so he could become a missionary in Lambaréné, Gabon. He wrote, “The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others.”

Helen Keller, who became blind, deaf, and mute due to an infectious disease when she was 19 months old, wrote:

• Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
• Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through the experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened.
• The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.
• Life is an exciting business, and it is most exciting when lived for others.
• Security is mostly a superstition; it does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. We can do anything we want to if we stick with it long enough.
• Keep your face to the sunshine, and you cannot see a shadow.
• What I’m looking for is not out there; it is in me.
• What we have once enjoyed, we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.

The power of serving others comes from volunteering at a local charity, donating to a cause, offering to help a neighbor with yard work, helping with a fundraising event, delivering a meal to someone who needs it, offering to babysit so a young mother can get out of the house, picking up groceries for someone, tutoring a student, or serving in a religious community. Every word and gesture of genuine compassion naturally nourishes our hearts. And if we give of ourselves unselfishly, someone may imitate us, helping spread kindness and goodness.

Service gives us a sense of purpose and helps keep our problems and concerns in perspective. Helping others can also contribute to a longer life, boost our self-esteem, and defeat loneliness.