“For it matters not, how much we own,
the cars…the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.”
— "The Dash" by Linda Ellis
I learned of this poem at a summer camp during an activity in which campers shared their dreams of the future. These lines in particular have always resonated with me. While Ellis doesn’t explicitly mention happiness, she describes a fulfilling life — the “dash” between a birth and death date — as an accumulation of non-material things: meaningful relationships, experiencing love, and extending kindness to others. I’ve found this to be an inspiring and hopeful framework when contemplating what makes people truly happy. Here’s a link to the full poem: https://lindaellis.life/blog/the-dash