It’s not your birth or death that matters most, but how you spend each passing year.
Global (07 March 2022) – Linda Ellis’ poem called ‘The Dash’ illustrates the importance of the ‘little line’ that is written between the date of a person’s birth and the date of their passing.
Ellis started writing poems as a child, a talent inherited from her Irish grandmother. When an announcer read ‘The Dash’ aloud on a syndicated radio program, it became an instant, meteoric success and set a new trajectory for the next 20+ years of her life. Messages came in from people around the world eager to tell Linda how her words had touched their hearts. It has become an enduring phenomenon that touches hearts to this day.
The poem later became a book: The Dash – Making a Difference with Your Life and has now sold over one million copies. The book captures and expands upon the theme of the original poem: It’s not your birth or death that matters most, but how you spend each passing year.
Read the poem below:
The Dash Poem (By Linda Ellis)
I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on the tombstone
From the beginning…to the end
He noted that first came the date of birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years
For that dash represents all the time
That they spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved them
Know what that little line is worth
For it matters not, how much we own,
The cars…the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.
So, think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
That can still be rearranged.
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If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect
And more often wear a smile,
Remembering this special dash
Might only last a little while
So, when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash…
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent YOUR dash?
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