What do we leave behind?

It is said that a man dies twice: the first time when he stops breat hing, and the second time when he is forgotten. Allen Sharpe, in The Green Tree in Geddes, describes a small Mexican cemetery that is divided into two parts - the dead, whose graves someone still decorates with flowers, and the "truly dead," whose graves are no longer cared for because no living soul remembers them.

There is something in everyone's soul that constantly strives for immortality. We want our life to be full of meaning and to have value not only now but also after our stay on this Earth.

After all, our life does not end the day our heart stops beating.

It continues.

It continues in the memory and in the hearts of others, beginning with those closest to us, and then in all those in whose lives and destinies we have left our mark.

"What we do for ourselves dies with us; what we do for others is eternal"(c)

In the end, only what we have done to others and for others will remain.

So what do we leave behind?

The kindness and generosity of our heart, love and mercy, generosity and forgiveness, responsiveness and compassion, loyalty and patience?

Or the wounds we have inflicted, the pain we have caused by our indifference, resentment, betrayal or rejection...?

What do we leave behind?

Good deeds and noble actions that changed someone's life for the better and influenced future generations, or a life only for ourselves, in the vain search for personal success, fame and recognition.

Remember that when you leave this earth, you cannot take with you anything of what you have received-the fading symbols of honor, the traps of power-but you will take only what you have given: the fullness of a heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage."(Francis of Assisi)

People will forget all the words you said to them, but they will remember how they felt around you.

What will people's immortal souls remember as they remember us?