“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
In ten years, don't ask my title or in twenty tally up my board seats. In thirty years, don't count the commas in my net worth, or in forty seek out buildings bearing my name. If you must keep score, ask how much love I have in my life.
At the end, that is all that matters for me. It is the gauge by which I measure my success: how much love have I delivered, and how much have I allowed myself to receive?
To extend love is my joy and my duty, because of the history of love I've enjoyed. Giving keeps me patient, honest, kind. Accepting makes me humble, thankful, hopeful, centered.
This is the lesson of the family (by blood and by choice, ancestral and contemporary) that has formed me, nurtured me, and let me go. It is confidence, health, security, passion. The promise of love empowers me to change the game and play by my own rules.
Make no mistake; I seek neither poverty nor obscurity. Like many others, I hope for success in career, pride in accomplishment, impact on my world, opportunities to lead, grace under pressure, and triumph over failure. But above all this, and as inspiration for it all, I plan to love.
At the end, that is all that matters for me. It is the gauge by which I measure my success: how much love have I delivered, and how much have I allowed myself to receive?
To extend love is my joy and my duty, because of the history of love I've enjoyed. Giving keeps me patient, honest, kind. Accepting makes me humble, thankful, hopeful, centered.
This is the lesson of the family (by blood and by choice, ancestral and contemporary) that has formed me, nurtured me, and let me go. It is confidence, health, security, passion. The promise of love empowers me to change the game and play by my own rules.
Make no mistake; I seek neither poverty nor obscurity. Like many others, I hope for success in career, pride in accomplishment, impact on my world, opportunities to lead, grace under pressure, and triumph over failure. But above all this, and as inspiration for it all, I plan to love.
— Melanie Harris