The best thing to do is that which provides the greatest reward. It may be that the greatest reward we think we’ll ever get is a lottery prize. So, many people buy lottery tickets or take part in similar sorts of gambling.
Others think that the greatest reward is making money in a more useful manner. Others focus on doing the very best they can for their children and families.
But, we are surrounded by the remains and mementoes of billions of people who’ve lived, loved, worked, and died. We may realize that whatever they did didn’t keep them alive any longer than the span they were allotted.
When we go to an estate auction, we see what the recently departed thought it was important to accumulate. We are struck with the idea that “You really can’t take it with you.”
A lot of people like to collect things. Many men like to collect guns. Since there are so many varieties, many realize that they should “specialize” in just a few “types” of guns. While they own their collections, they enjoy showing them to people. One reason they buy more is because they get such pleasure in showing others what they’ve purchased. “I got a good buy on this. It’s a good example of the state of firearms development at the time it was made.”, every collector will say, nodding wisely along with the person being shown the piece.
Gun dealers like to buy such collections and sell them. We can often see that what it took a lifetime to collect is usually sold in a few minutes or hours as lawyers and heirs exchange what was thought to be, and was described before the sale as, “an important collection” for cash.
II.
Some people spend a lot of time trying to fix things. Many such personalities go into politics “to make things better and fairer “. The thing that most of them want to make “better” is their own position, importance, status, and income. But, most of us have been trained to think that “wanting to make things better and fairer ” is an indication of selfless idealism, a notion encouraged by those professionals who have succeeded most spectacularly in the underlying business of “making things better and fairer.” Many of them, in fact, have done so well that they are able to fly around the world in huge, private jets, encouraging others to join them in “making things better”.
III.
Most of us will spend time on health and education, doing what we can to provide for our bodies and minds. We see that those who came and went before us did the same thing. Their efforts may have marginally increased the length of time they were on earth. But, they’re all still gone. So, how much are such efforts worth?
IV.
If we believe we have souls, we generally believe that they will live forever. The Christian religions are generally unanimous in such beliefs. As a result, they teach that we should work to save our souls by following rules set down by the founder of our faith. When Jesus Christ was on earth, He told us to love God and our neighbor “as ourselves”.
Some of us spend a lot of time working to do those two things. Is there a better way to spend our time?
