In English, there is a saying: “Quality over Quantity.” We apply this principle to goods and material things, but we forget to apply it to our own lives.
We think we need a long life. We plan for retirement, and in doing so, we focus on prolonging our lives rather than enjoying them. For example, we continue working in jobs where we feel suffocated every day, choosing them in the name of job security because we want to live a long life. We are unable to spend enough time with our families because we have to accumulate wealth for their future, for a later time.
It is for such people that Seneca wrote, “No man can have a peaceful life who thinks too much about the lengthening of it.”
But now, let us look at another kind of people, those who chose to live a great life rather than simply a long one.
Martin Luther King Jr. left this world at the age of 39, but he started a great movement against racism and won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Srinivasa Ramanujan made remarkable contributions to mathematics but died at the age of 32.
Blaise Pascal died at the age of 39 and made significant contributions to mathematics and science, including inventing an early mechanical calculator.
Bhagat Singh fought in India’s freedom struggle and was executed at the age of 23.
Joan of Arc, the French military heroine, died at the age of 19, but she played a remarkable role in leading French forces to victories against their enemies.
Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote the pioneering feminist work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, died at the age of 38, but her ideas helped open the path towards women’s equality, rights, and justice.
These people embody Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s words: “Life should be great rather than long.”
Now, it is up to you to decide: Do you want a long life, or do you want a great life?
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