Solemn reminder of the necessity of compassion

There is nothing quite like death, to remind those of us left behind, to live life fully. Today I attended the memorial service of a 22 year old who died a year ago in a car crash. This young chap was a school friend of my brother- in-law, and I occationally picked them up from school when they were young teens.

Since this young lads death, his family and friends share the motto of; "What would Jamie do?". One of his friends has even had it tattooed on his arm. Jamie was a kind and generous young man, who made everyone around him laugh. Intellgent and compassionate. He once even bought a teddy bear at the age of 7 becase it was lonely and no one wanted it. He showed strength of charater and compassion at such a young age.

There is a lesson to be learnt from the finallity of this young boys death, which I would like for businesses to adopt in the way they commnicate with one another. People may not remember what you said or did but they will certainly remember how you made them feel.

There was a reading done at the funeral, which I would like to share (Author unknown):

Live a life that matters
Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours, days.
All the 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 on what side of the tracks you lived.
At the end, whether you were beautiful or brilliant, male or female, even your skin colour won't matter.

So what will matter? How will the value of your 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.
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 not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you.
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.

I implore you dear business owner, to create a business culture to be proud of, a culture that values people and humanity. Give your employees less stress in thier work life. There is more than enough stress in our life and work. The way in which we speak to one another and interact does not need to add to this.