The Low-down and Words to live by

We’re into the doldrums of our trip again – a wee siesta in one place with mind-numbing work to be done and schoolwork to catch up on. Work has been good thus far – not dissimilar to a day on-call in Narrandera without the afterhours. It’s actually quite amazing what some people deem as an ‘Emergency’. We had one character loll up today complaining of pain in his big toe which started on Jan.30th – not quite a life threatening concern – so he waited…and waited…and waited – a long, long time. The doctors are quite refreshing as they seem so excited about their work and knowledge. As we were leaving at the end of the shift, we were discussing rare ECG syndromes that both the other docs had seen and had to manage in the past – very stimulating. Having been out of the mix for a few months, the 10 hr days can get a bit weary but I think I’ll manage. Jen and the kids are going alright – schoolwork in the morning and some exploration of Broome in the afternoon. Yesterday they went down to the Port where some dinosaur footprints are touted to exist – unfortunately – they are a ways out to sea and the tides don’t seem to permit visual inspection this time of year. There are sample prints though so the kids could get the gist of what lies out in the very low tide. Today was our Kluger’s 30,000 km servicing so after I dropped it off in the morning, Jen and Co. rode their bikes in later in the day to fix up the bill and drop the keys off for me to grab it after work. Piper’s tag along wasn’t quite tightened enough on Jen’s seat-post so she had a couple of twisty falls as a result – fortunately without injury. You could imagine Jen yelling “Stop wiggling!” Jen described the second twisty fall as being quite humorous as it occurred on an island between two roads and Piper landed face first on the grass uttering “I didn’t wiggle, I didn’t wiggle.” Jen was apparently bowled over in hysterics at all this which must have looked a bit lacking in empathy to the passing motorists. They finally managed to tighten up the attachment on Jen’s seat-post with the aid of a passing lawn-mower man with tools and had no further mishaps.


I was in the staff loo yesterday at work and posted on the walls are a number of laminated sheets of paper outlining the protocol for assessing mental health patients and those with personality disorders as well as this little gem…



What Will Matter

Ready or not, someday it will come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.

All 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 what side of the tracks you lived on 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 you 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 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.


There was no author listed so I can’t reference who said it – let’s just say Anon. It’s a bit apocalyptic but a powerful little piece none-the-less. Here’s to a life that matters!