Is it me or is our culture going absolutely nuts? I think that anyone who keeps up with the news would agree with me. Before you look at the paper (website, journalistic entity app, etc.) today let me tell you what it boils down to…It’s worse than it was yesterday. It’s almost like everywhere you look people are trying to outdo each other on how to make a media impact. Why is that? I think that it all comes down to one word that we need to look at in the quote at the top of this post: worth. Almost anyone can write something, but is it worth reading? Most of us do things and try to let everyone know about it, but is it something that other people value enough to record for history? If we make a splash and do something that others will remember, is it beneficial to anyone? We are so saturated in social network posts and “news” articles that it has become almost impossible to find true significance in our world. We are always trying to keep others updated on why we are worth following and thus, why we are worth keeping around.
We all have a yearning to leave some kind of
legacy. We express it through sharing funny pictures, sad
stories, and the most personal of details. Sadly it seems that the only people
that cut through the static are the mass shooters, celebrities competing for
the best selfie, or individuals who seem to want to win a shouting match about
whose point of view is the right one. Why do we give these people so much value
that they are able to skew our worldview? Can we counter it or is our culture
one that is so far gone that there is no hope?
I think that there is hope, but obviously we can’t look to the people at the top to take the wheel.
Look at yourself first.
Can we agree that your house is a reasonable place to start?
Do you have any substance?
Are you a person who is worth reading about?
I’m not talking about 140 characters. Could someone write a book about your life that you would be willing to let others read?
When you are gone and your digital profiles are disbanded will anyone remember your name? If they do, will your memory be honorable or shameful? I challenge you to make your life count.
Check your beliefs and make sure that they are worthy. When you have those set make yourself the best that you can be. Read something that stimulates your mind, take notes.
Build on your strengths, diminish your weaknesses. Be honorable, trustworthy, gracious, but above all be a fierce force for what is good.
Before
you click “Like” or “Retweet” make sure that whatever you are sharing has value
and is indeed worth reading/viewing. And I ask that if you take a stand on a
position that you make sure that it is intelligible and that you can defend it.
I implore you to leave something for others to use. Let it be a business for your family, a love letter to your wife, money to a charity, or your labor to help out a stranger. It can be anything tangible, just let it be more than a few words of rhetoric that will flutter away by tomorrow. I would ask that instead of “Liking” or sharing this article with someone else that you would heed ol’ Ben’s words and write one of your own.
Take a risk and create something that will stir a passion in someone else to
check their own positions. Let’s commit together to leave a respectable legacy.
Let me tell you where I am going to start. I’ll begin at home with my family.
My priority is to love, support, and raise them in a way that will ensure that
they will be successful for generations and that we will be remembered in the
best light possible. After that I’ll move on to something else.
I hope that this article is something worth reading. You
can let me know when I have done something worth writing about.
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