It’s not what you do

Everyone needs to feel valued.  Everyone needs to feel like their contributions to the world are important.

I started thinking about some people who made great contributions to the world.  People like Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Gaudi, Socrates, etc.  Many people are remembered through history as those that changed the world.  These are the people we want to emulate.

Is it really what they did that is so important?

If Lincoln had never existed does anyone think that slavery would exist today?  If not for Einstein would we still not understand the principles of a relative universe?

These guys were on the cutting edge of a new paradigm, but would the paradigm shift have taken place without them?

I think it would have.

Sure some other leading physicist would have discovered relativity without Einstein, but would he have the hair?  Would he inspire generations with his thoughtful analysis of the ramifications of his discoveries?  Would he exude the childlike wonder for the universe?

I think that’s the real contribution that we make.  Not our achievements.  Not our conquests.  Our real value lies in how we go about our journey.

It’s not what you do.  It’s how you do it.