The passing of Walter Cronkite gives us something to ponder when evaluating life from the standpoint of making a lasting contribution. Those who write the obituaries have an important job to do. Cronkite’s contributions throughout his life gave the reporters plenty of magnificent content from which to draw. Reading the many articles about his life these last few days has been inspiring. One of the reports asked Cronkite which of the stories he worked on were his favorites. His reply? “All of them.”
If you were to write your obituary today or read what others would write about you, what would those stories say? Would yours be a life of lasting and meaningful contributions? And would you be proud of the stories told?
Matthew Ferry, who speaks often about living a life of contribution, often says that “someday” isn’t on his planning calendar. Rather, his calendar offers Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as days of action.
This brings me to ask a timely question. Is your bio today telling your best story right now? What is your contribution today? State it clearly and get into action to bring it about every day, and not just someday.
After all, wouldn’t you rather that people reflect upon your contributions — as Walter Cronkite would say — as “THAT’s the way it is” as opposed to “THAT’s the way it was?”
Thanks Walter Cronkite for sharing the news with us for so many years and with such grace, credibility, skill, and passion. May we all be lucky enough to serve the world with skill, talent, and joy as you did for so long.
