He said: “how long would our years last for?!” I replied that it would be better for us to think: how we shall live our days?! He said: what do you mean? I answered: Son, the thing is that you see life as mere years, days and hours, yet in fact it is not as so: It is steps taken and works done, flowing out from the hopes, dreams and goals you set for yourself, it is about the influence you leave in the way of your days, the footprints which cry: Someone had lived here! You shall take heed to what you do and what you want to achieve, as this is the real investment in your life minutes and hours.
Life is not about many days, but about how you pass them.
For example, in Science, we read about the Italian Physician and Mathematician, Torricelli, who passed away at the age of 39, yet after he had invented the Barometer instrument which measures the atmospheric pressure, and had modified the microscope device!
In arts, Dutch painter Van Gogh, who is considered one of the genius painters of history, died at the age of 37, leaving behind more than two thousand paintings! Now, his paintings are sold at millions of dollars! In Poetry, the Arab Poet Abu Al Qassim Al Shabi, died at the age of 20, wrote magnificent poems, like “The Will To Live” which begins with the well known verse:
If the people one day will to live then destiny must respond
So, you have to lead the life granted to you in its deepest sense and real meaning.
He replied: how can I do this, given the difficulties and the waves crashing in the world, attempting to attract us to the bottom, stealing our dreams, and consuming powers and energies?! After moments of silence, I answered him: Do you think that the lives of the great people were going on easily and smoothly?! You have to go back to history and read its incidents, being inspired by its lessons: No great work has risen unless it is borne on shoulders that have known the meaning of toil, labor and continuous work, which does not allow despair to act in response for the face of challenges and obstacles. What is built without a basis is inevitably vanishing.
He replied: Don’t you think it is difficult?! Many people do not follow your rule! I answered: It is certainly difficult, but it is not impossible. You know well that success is built with diligence, and it often needs effort and patience; those who do not follow it, will pursue quickly perishable dreams only. One of the secrets of life, and what pushes man to toil, work and be patient lie in his own depths. Yes: how wonderful it is to walk in life, bearing in our depths that great treasure which is called confidence! When this confidence is lost, steps turn perplexed in the paths of life, they do not encompass the features and signals of the path, and thus many get lost.
He astonishingly asked: which confidence do you mean? in whom? in what?
I answered him: “wait a little! To be continued!”
The General Bishop
Head of Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
