We live in deeds, not in years
The value of our life lies not in how long we live but in what we do. The mere fact of existing for a number of years does not enhance the value of our life. Prolonged existence is no sign of life’s greatness; it does not make it glorious or memorable. In the evening of his life, when a man looks back at his past, his attention is riveted on peaks of achievements, not on the barren desert of uneventful existence. The high peaks of achievement stand out of the dull plain of existence and give him consolation. They make life meaningful. Think of the man who spends his life like an animal-eating, drinking, sleeping and procreating and doing nothing worth remembering. How would he regret the loss of time and energy dissipated in idle pursuits and pastimes? How he would wish to have made a better use of his life? Ben Johnson prefers the short but beautiful and glorious existence of a lily to the prolonged but colourless life of an oak: It is not growing like a tree in bulk doth make man better be/Or standing long on oak three hundred year/To fall a log at last, dry, bald and sear/The lily of a day/Is fairer far in May/Although it falls and dies that night. A Sanskrit poet advises us to burn like a torch, even if it is for a moment, not to smoulder like a heap of husk throughout night without a spark. One crowded hour of glorious existence is worth an age without a name. A glorious life that radiates what Mathew Arnold calls ‘sweetness and light is preferable to a dull prolonged, smouldering and unsparing life.
