Our Rightful Place

There are so many things that we can do in this world, with our lives, and with our time. When we are young we face so many questions and have to brook so much advice about our plans and how we hope to achieve them.  There are almost too many options, and we can become overwhelmed with making the "right" choice. As we get older, we find that some things are settled, as we take jobs and find spouses, and welcome children, but there is still the question of how best to spend the time that is left to us.
In earlier societies the question was frequently settled by station in life, where a person was born, and just simply trying to survive. For many people the question of their "rightful" place in society wasn't a question at all, but a fact. The duty was to live in the place that was given to you the best way that you could. Now we have the benefit of a world where people are not limited by who their parents were, where they were born, or even their economic status. All those things can be changed, and we have a greater responsibility to use our time and resources in better ways.
What this means is that we can't allow ourselves to become complacent and allow time to slip away, putting off the things that we know that we should be doing for a later time.
There may not be as much urgency as in our college years, but time isn't waiting.
There are so many people, causes, and issues that need our attention, and every person has something that they can do to attend to the needs of others on the journey.
We must all account for the way that we spent our lives.
The talents have been doled out and there will be an accounting.
Find a few minutes each day to attend to the betterment of someone else.
If you can't make someone's day, try to just make their moment.
As a very wise wizard once said "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
And that IS an encouraging thought.