FRANZ CESAR ONTAL, HEAD OF INSPECTOR TRAINING, THE ORGANIZATION FOR THE PROHIBITION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS: 2013 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER. Award ceremony in Oslo, Norway, December 10.
______________________________________________________________
Who is Nobel, exactly?
I don't know much -- a glimpse of his statue while touring Oslo; I knew that he invented the dynamite, and of course the prestigious Nobel Prize for outstanding achievement in peace, literature, medicine and sciences, and economics . What I knew of Alfred B. Nobel (1833-1896) is very minimal, indeed.
So I was fascinated by an article written by Dov Greenberg with the long title of The Man who changed his life after reading his Obituary.
He wrote:
"The creation of the Nobel Prizes came about through a chance event. When Nobel's brother died, a newspaper ran a long obituary of Alfred Nobel, believing that it was he who had passed away. Thus, Nobel had an opportunity granted few people: to read his obituary while alive. What he read horrified him: The newspaper described him as a man who had made it possible to kill more people more quickly than anyone else who had ever lived.
At that moment, Nobel realized two things: that this was how he was going to be remembered, and that this was not how he wanted to be remembered. Shortly thereater, he established the awards. Today, because of his doing so, everyone is familiar with the Nobel Prize, while relatively few people know how Nobel made his fortune. Shakespeare's Mark Antony was wrong: the good we do lives after us. For most of us, it is the most important thing that we leave behind.
Thinking about how one's obituary is going to read can motivate one to rethink how he is currently spending his life. No eulogy every says he/she dressed well, lived extravagantly, took fabulous vacations, drove an expensive car, or built the most expensive home. I never heard anyone praised for being too busy at work to find time for their children. A call to someone who is lonely, a listening ear to a person in need, long walks with our children, saying thank you to a spouse and to G-d, performing mitzvahs (acts of goodness and holiness)-- are the essence of a life well lived.
The people who are most mourned are not the richest or the most famous, or the most successful. They are the people who enhanced the lives of others. They were kind. They were loving. They had a sense of their responsibilities. When they could, they gave to charitable causes. If they could not give money, they gave time. They were loyal friends and committed members of communities. They were people you could count on."
Oslo City Hall - Nobel Peace Prize
Stockholm City Hall- where the winners of the Nobel Prizes in literature, medicine, sciences and economics are awarded. Party on!
Gold Room
Published 4/14/09 ALT MSN Group
Web Page: A Glimpse of Nobel
No comments:
Post a Comment