Some days, I wake and wonder – what needs doing, what has not been done, where can I be of help, make a difference to someone? It is the right question, of course, answer not always clear. Still it comes asking, in every time of year. Why – why does it matter? Because we do, and life moves fast.

Think back. Life seems, too often, an accelerating dash. Was it not just yesterday … Were the kids not just … our parents … ourselves? Were we not just dreaming of the day … working hard to make our way? True, but there is a deeper truth, something that, for most, escaped us in our youth.

Life moves fast for sure, but we can regulate its pace, slow ourselves for others, make a difference, not make haste. We can listen and respond, use our experience to allay the fear everywhere today.

Only those who have lived enough to know, can serve as guides to those brought low. Only those who appreciate that the world has often run astray, can say, with authority, “It will be okay.”

Looking around, much that was once peaceful, reassuring, offered security to children is missing, in its place anxiety, people filled with distrust, wary, and afraid. But here is a truth known by prior generations, passed to us by those who had to really fight: We can make it right.

So, when you hear that things are irretrievable, in a human way hopeless, lean into that discussion, engage, and do not walk away. This, by the grace of God, is your day. Here is a chance to speak from the heart, to offer what you know from what you lived, the promise of joy, the benefit of strife.

Hopelessness has no place. Still, it creeps from all directions, especially on the young. Hope is, by contrast, forever real, a product of faith, gratitude, and grounding, something we can offer.

So, what is the point? Make the most of every day, give as much as you can to those you can, with a heart that passes forward, because that is our obligation, what we were taught, what we know. Rise with the sun and dare, because life moved fast for them. Still, they cared.

One who did especially, who wrote despite life’s speed – who consciously slowed life- was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Wrote Emerson, “The purpose of life … is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived …”

The secret? It does not matter who you are; that truth holds. How do we make the most of time? How do we slow life and resolve not to waste it? We do, as he suggested, and as many have done. Wrote Thoedore Roosevelt, who lived fully, died young, but left his mark: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” He reflected Emerson: “It is not length of life, but depth of life.”

So, keep in mind that, whatever your age, health, disposition, you matter. You can change the life of others still with what you know, your goodness and resolve. Yes, life moves fast, but that is a problem.

Perhaps the best British companion to Emerson, another of my favorites, was William Wordsworth. What did he say?:  “The best portion of a good man’s life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.” We can all use more of that and give more of that. Why? Life moves fast.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).