The one thing before I die

Tragedy rocked the world as dozens were killed and many wounded when a gunman attacked mosque attendees in New Zealand last week. These acts of violence are all too common, certainly not surprising anymore, but nonetheless jarring.

This isn't a column about the sadness of this situation, although it obviously is. It isn't a conversation about a need for more gun laws, as if criminals follow laws, which they do not. It isn't even a tirade against a murderer who has no regard for human life, though I'm tempted to unleash one. This is a call for each of us to take a look at ourselves and the value we place on human life.

"What is the one thing you absolutely do not want to leave the earth without doing or accomplishing?" is a question I recently asked a virtual Mastermind group I was facilitating. The response? Silence. Silence when I asked it and near-silence when I later encouraged people to respond via email. Granted, it's a deep question, but I was surprised at how difficult people found it, and, as I recall, only two or three ever did respond.

As I contemplated the massacres that took place in New Zealand, my mind took me to something I think about occasionally: mankind's vulnerability. I assume we all know we're vulnerable, but I'm not sure we think about it too much. It seems to be within the nature of man to think we're invincible, unconquerable, indomitable. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say it's within the nature of man not to think those things -- in other words, not to think about those things at all. Maybe we're not consciously pushing thoughts aside, but could it be that they just don't enter our minds because we take so much for granted?

I don't know about you, but when I think about life -- how fleeting it is, how quickly it changes, how easy it is to get distracted along the way -- I want to make the most of it, of why I'm here in the first place. What we call "life happens" happens without warning. Just as good overtakes us at times, so does bad. We get one shot at life, so I ask myself, "Adrienne, what are you doing with it?" I ask you the same. When given an opportunity, we have to force ourselves to consider the things we don't usually consider or that are uncomfortable to consider. I'm convinced some would rather watch cat videos than think about the stuff that matters most. Look, I love cats. I have two I dote on and post videos and photos of and spoil like humans. So I'm no hater. But again, I'm convinced people would rather just chill out and watch cat videos than think. And I believe the reverse just as much: Some would rather push a boulder up a steep hill inch by inch, ache by ache, than think. In other words, some folks would rather do anything but think.

So today, I am imploring us to think. I pose the question, and I'd love to hear your answer. But even if you don't give me the answer, give yourself the answer: "What is the one thing you absolutely do not want to leave the earth without doing or accomplishing?" The one thing. The one thing you want to be your legacy. The one thing you must do. The one deposit into the earth you must make. The one passion that consumes you. What is your one thing? I guess this is a different kind of bucket list.

There's a saying: "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." What is your main thing that in the depth of your being you must do or achieve or reach or whatever? Are you engaged in it now? Are you taking steps? Or are you watching cat videos, literally or metaphorically? Conversely, maybe you're pushing a boulder up a hill -- working hard, making money, building barns, whatever, but you're not doing you, the thing you were created to do.

No one who entered the mosques that day expected what transpired. Everyone planned to return home, even if they hadn't thought through what the rest of the day would look like. We are not the superheroes we live as if we are, people who get to decide our length of days. Tomorrow is not promised to any of us. So what is your consuming fire today, your purpose that you don't want to leave here without fulfilling?

If you have the answer, go all in for it. Commit to growth. Create goals. Devise action plans.

If you do not have the answer, I beg you to reflect, write, experiment -- yes, pray -- until you get the answer. Then live it.

Adrienne Ross is owner of Adrienne Ross Communications and a former Southeast Missourian editorial board member. Contact her at aross@semissourian.com.