Have you seen the movie “Casualties Of War?” Based on a true story, the film challenges us to consider the choices we make in life. 

Michael J. Fox plays Max Eriksson, a member of a squad of 6 men out on patrol during the Vietnam War. Sean Penn plays Sergeant Tony Meserve the leader of the squad.

The squad has, lately, seen a lot of combat and Meserve decides that they are entitled to some “recreation.” While on their next patrol, the squad (in spite of Eriksson’s protests and his refusal to participate) kidnaps and rapes a Vietnamese girl. Eriksson ultimately reports his comrades to the authorities who, rather than taking immediate action, are at first indifferent and then openly hostile towards Eriksson.

Learning that Eriksson has revealed details of the rape to his superiors, one of the members of the squad confronts him with the question as to why he would turn them in. After all, he says, we may die at any moment in the war. What difference does it make what we do?

Eriksson’s turns this thinking on its head by declaring that precisely because they may die at any moment the choices they make at every moment are critically important.

This choice between these two views of the world is actually one we make every day although we may not always be present to it. Some believe that it doesn’t make any difference what we do since few of us will be remembered for very long after we die for what we did or who we were. Others believe that our actions have a profound impact on current and future generations whether we are personally remembered or not.

Steve Jobs had something to say about this when he gave the commencement address at Stanford University in 2005. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the year before he gave this talk (the same cancer that has now caused him to step down from his day to day responsibilities at Apple) and he ended his remarks with a reflection on mortality.

Like every commencement speaker before him, Jobs called on the graduates to be true to themselves because “time is limited.” Jobs added that, “I can now say this with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept”

Jobs admonished the graduates to ask themselves a question: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been “no” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something” (you can view his talk below).

I was impacted by Jobs’ comments and, as a result, I’ve taken on a new practice.

Every morning, I create my schedule for the day on my computer screen and, usually, I’m in a hurry to complete this planning and get to work.

Now, however, just before I create my schedule, I pause and take a moment to notice the very obvious fact that I’m looking at a blank page and that whatever I put on that schedule represents the contribution I’m going to make to life that day. This may sound grandiose, but it’s exactly the thought I have.

Some activities I put on that schedule will be dictated by the demands of others while some activities will be chosen by me. But in either case, my approach to those activities will either make a difference or will just be another “to do” to be gotten out of the way as quickly as possible.

I get to choose. Will what I’m about to do make any difference or will it not?

As the Grail Knight advises in the movie, Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom, "choose wisely."

Good advice.

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Reprinted by permission of the author, Larry Barkan http://www.larrybarkan.com