The Measure

by Nikki Erlick

We know that faith, true faith, calls upon us to accept that some mysteries will always lie beyond our comprehension while here on earth,”

“You know, I watched a lot of people come to the end, and everyone around them kept begging them to fight. It takes real strength to keep on fighting, and yes, usually that’s the right answer. Keep fighting, keep holding on, no matter what. But sometimes I think we forget that it also takes strength to be able to let go.”

There’s no such thing as pleasing everyone.

The great American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, ‘It is not the length of life, but the depth of life.’ You don’t need a long lifetime to make an impact on this world. You just need the will to do so.”

If I’ve learned anything from all the stories I’ve read—of love and friendship, adventure and bravery—it’s that living long is not the same as living well.

“It’s strange, because people often talk about that dream of ‘the simple life,’ or focusing on ‘the simple things.’ But just because you live in the country, away from all the superficial stuff, I guess that doesn’t really make life any less complicated.” Ben nodded knowingly. “At least you get to face it while eating fresh breads and cheeses.”

“You saw something wrong, and you didn’t look away,” said Lea. “That’s not nothing.”

A stranger recently told me that she didn’t want to waste any time feeling sad. She just wanted to live as much life as possible. And I think that’s as good a measure as any.

We are still learning how to react. Which means we can start fresh. Reject the patterns of history. Promise not to repeat old mistakes. We can lead with compassion and empathy. Fight back against those who look to divide us, or pit us against one another, or make anyone feel less than.

“It’s important to celebrate every beautiful moment that life gives us,”

“It’s easy to look at our time together and think that we were so unlucky. But isn’t it better to spend ten years really loving someone, rather than forty years growing bored or weary or bitter? When we think about the greatest love stories ever written, we aren’t judging them by their length.

That the beginning and the end may have been chosen for us, the string already spun, but the middle had always been left undetermined, to be woven and shaped by us.