In life — nothing seems permanent. As it was famously described by Steve Jobs in his Stanford Commencement Address:
“… death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.”
Source: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
I’ve previously written about the “3 things that matter”. It occurred to me that there is an extra layer about things, ideas and people — permanence.
Things age. All of them. Attaching oneself to things is plain shortsighted.
Moving on to ideas. Most of them age as well — it takes perspective to see that, but man’s history is littered with dead ideas, which back in their time felt permanent. They weren’t.
Some ideas evolve.
All relationships can become timeless. Throughout our lives — and this is certain — we work on relationships so that they can evolve and develop, for the common good. When we look at “famous people,” their likely impact on our lives, on history, was through connecting with others — leading them, helping them, serving them.
Things age, most ideas become obsolete, and relationships — have the potential to be timeless.
“We take a little piece of every person we meet with us, wherever we go.” — @marcandangel
How does this matter?
Personally or professionally, what we do allows us to connect, serve, and inspire other people. By learning to recognize the importance of relationships in our actions, we embark on a journey towards timelessness.
