by Victoria Moss

Created on: July 01, 2008

Years ago my brother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Knowing that he had only months to live he set about sorting out and tidying up his life. It was obvious that he felt a responsibility to us, those who were to be left behind, and he expressed his message clearly.

"Do not grieve when I am gone. My life has been rich and full. Go on and make sure that yours is too."

His life was, indeed, rich in the truest sense of the word. It abounded with joy and enthusiasm. It overflowed with love and caring and compassion for others. Energy and vigour and enthusiasm were part of his every word and his every action.

As a Special Education Teacher he worked first with children who were severely disabled, teaching them how to express themselves through two of his own passions, Art and Music. Later his particular skills allowed him to become involved in Indigenous Education and he moved to Far North Queensland to live.

Surrounded by the natural richness of that tropical paradise, his talents flourished and new aptitudes developed. Strongly influenced by the traditional crafts of the Torres Strait Islanders, he worked amongst those people for a number of years, later writing two reference books that exemplified and venerated their art.

He taught traditional crafts in schools for indigenous children who had lost touch with their cultural heritage. His work with these youngsters included bead-making, wood-carving, weaving and pottery. He researched carefully to ensure authentic methods and materials and sought approval from the elders of the indigenous people in regard to his instruction of the students.

Yes, his life was as rich as his own description of it jammed full of excitement, achievement, creativity and vision.

Money was never a motivating factor in my brother's life. His earnings were sufficient to maintain a comfortable home and provide for his children's further education, but the family existed without the opulence of expensive paraphernalia that so many seem to need today, surrounding themselves instead with the bounty of nature and the fruitfulness of giving.

Many people achieve monetary wealth in this world, sometimes without having to work to achieve it. This is not necessarily an enviable state and these are not necessarily happy people.

Perhaps we need to think of richness differently. If richness is "productivity," rather than dollars in the bank and a stash of possessions, then the world's richest people are those who have achieved something of intrinsic value that is not money-related.

Those who have contributed something beneficial to their fellows, those who have relieved the suffering of others, those who have nurtured a vision and lived it out!

Those people are truly rich.

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