As a senior citizen, I benefit from wisdom from my successes and failures. Looking back, I am clearer than when facing life’s challenges. I learned a lot both in the classroom as a student and even more as a college instructor. Like everyone, I have lived a good but imperfect life because it is a common refrain that we are all imperfect.
While there are no do-overs in this very short time between birth and death, there is a great poem called “The Dash” by Linda Ellis that I wish I could share verbatim with you. However, due to copyright laws, I can only paraphrase this wonderful poem. I encourage you to Google it and read it in full.
The poem goes like this, and I paraphrase it.
The scene is a funeral, and a friend stands and speaks about the departed friend’s life. He notes that the date of birth came first and speaks of the following date with tears but says what matters most is the dash between those years.
Our dash represents our time on earth and how we lived our lives. It matters not how much we own or how wealthy we are. How we live, love, and spend our dash matters.
The poem continues with words regarding change, facing the end of life, and living in a manner that brings honor to yourself.
One of those ways, as the poem refers to, is to be slow to anger because none of us ever knows how much time we may have beyond the present. As the refrain goes, “Tomorrow is not guaranteed.”
All of us are a bundle of mistakes, and we should consider how we can change during the short time we have on this earth because none of us knows our future or what day may be our last.
We should be less quick to anger, show appreciation more, smile more, and love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved them before. Ultimately, I believe all of us desire that our eulogies present us in a good light, and the story of our lives is our dash.
The Dash is a poem that helps me during this time of grief for my fellow animal welfare warrior and hero, Mr. Charles DeVane of Quitman, Georgia. Charlie lived his life on his terms, and it was a life well lived. He was a kind, humble public servant of the finest order, and he saved many animals through his volunteerism and philanthropy. Like many others, I loved Charlie and will forever miss my friend.
We should all strive to be like Charlie and fulfill the dash of our lives with good works and heroic behavior manifested by kindness for others.
Burton Fletcher, JD, MBA, is a local writer heavily involved as a servant leader in the Valdosta and Lowndes County area. He is a retired full professor of business administration with lifetime college teaching credentials in business and industrial management, marketing and distribution, and law, and he is an emeritus attorney member of the State Bar of Georgia. Burton is the president, founder, and executive director of the Burton Fletcher Foundation for Animals, Inc., a 501 ©(3) nonprofit, www.BurtonFletcherFoundation.org, and can be reached at Burton@BurtonFletcherFoundation.org.