How Do You Want To Be Remembered? Poem by Jim Yerman

On the eve of Memorial Day as we prepare for the day ahead,
We begin to think about the ones we lost and a question pops into my head.

Whatever path our lives may take one truism applies
No one is immortal...eventually everybody dies.

So as our lives move from January’s summer of youth to winter’s long December
It makes one wonder, when it’s over, how do you want to be remembered?

Would you rather be remembered for what you own...for the new cars you have driven?
Or for helping others along the way and all the riches you have given?

Would you rather be remembered for the size of your house on the day that you depart
Or for the size of your humanity and the capacity of your heart?

Would you rather to be remembered for all the money you’ve accumulated
Or for the friends you’ve made in your lifetime and the family you created?

Would you rather be remembered for your ambition...for your climb
Or as someone who stopped along the way and generously gave your time?

Would you rather be remembered for how other’s treated you
Or for how you treated others before your life was through?

The initial question is a simple one but its ripples extend quite far
Because how you choose to answer it...determines who you are.

So I think the day before Memorial Day is a great day to ponder our legacy
To think about who we are today, before we, too, are but a memory.

For the time will come when our life extinguishes its last remaining ember
That’s why today is a good day to ask...how do you want to be remembered?