A Better You, A Better World

A Better You, A Better World 

By Lawrence W. Reed

If you were to choose today the epitaph that will appear on your headstone after you’re gone, which one from these two lists would you pick? Or perhaps the better question is, which one most accurately describes you?

List A:

“He said it but rarely meant it.”

“No one ever knew what she stood for.”

“Left the world as if he was never in it.”

“Couldn’t see further than herself.”

“Subtracted more than he added.”

“Honest and upright, but only when others were watching.”

List B:

“He made bedrock principles soar.”

“What you saw was what she was, no pretense or prevarication.

“Devoted to all the right things, in word and deed.”

“Loved God, life, family and liberty, and others loved him for it.”

“She set standards to which every decent person aspires.”

“The Golden Rule was his life in three words.”

No good and self-respecting person would want to pick from List A, though the world is full of people who would have to if they were completely honest about it. What a dreadful shame to depart having lived a life that amounted to so little.

In my mind, becoming a better person means striving to be a model in everything we do so that others will be inspired by our examples. Here’s some additional advice:

Take charge of your life, accept all your responsibilities at home and elsewhere without hesitation. Get your mental attitude in shape: Have a healthy sense of humor, a good feel for both your strengths and weaknesses, a bubbly optimism and exuberance about making a difference in the world. Stop thinking of yourself as a victim; all that does is slow you down as it burdens you with an angry, envious and unappealing attitude. Talk less and listen more.

Be a good citizen who respects the lives and property of others. Don’t vote for politicians who promise to steal from others so they can take credit for giving the loot to you.

Make your life a nonstop learning journey. Read. Read to your children. Read biographies of men and women who made character a priority in their lives.

Character is ultimately more important than all the college degrees, public offices, or even all the knowledge you might accumulate in a lifetime. It puts both a concrete floor under your future and an iron ceiling over it because more than anything else, it will decide how far you go. Who in their right mind would want to live in a world without it? It means being honest in things large and small; polite, patient and humble in temperament; responsible and accountable for what you say and do; courageous when courage is called for, and grateful for the good things that come your way whether it was your doing or someone else’s.

Remember that we can’t impart to others what we don’t possess ourselves. If you want a better world, you have to start with a better YOU.

On the last night before his death, the Apostle Paul wrote, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Now there’s an objective for you—to so live your life that you can say the same when it’s time to go.

(Want more on this subject? See Are We Good Enough for Liberty?)

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(Lawrence W. Reed is President Emeritus, Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and Ron Manners Global Ambassador for Liberty at the Foundation for Economic Education in Atlanta, Georgia. He blogs at www.lawrencewreed.com).