Nothing

Nothing

1990 1 January 9 Nothing (345) Everyone is engaged in some activity or the other and regards what he is doing as of some importance. He thinks he is doing something for the final day. But when the day is over, and the last moment of his life approaches, he gazes with astonishment on his failure to achieve anything; the last page of his life’s book has imprinted upon it, ‘Nothing’

Louis XVI was the last of the emperors of France. He was born in 1754 and died in 1793. The French democratic revolution of 1789 took place during the rule of this king. When this revolution proved successful, he was imprisoned. He lived in imprisonment for some time, then on January 21, 1793 he was put to death for the crime of plotting with external powers against the French Revolution in order to regain his lost empire.

A historian writes of this final emperor of France:

‘It was the habit of King Louis XVI of France to keep a daily diary. In it he would make a brief entry every day about an appointment, an event, or a meeting. On July 14, 1789, he had spent long hours hunting. At night he scribbled one short word against that date: “Nothing’”

The 14th of July page of the French King’s diary is the final page of the life of every man. This is not just the story of an unsuccessful king, but the story of all men.

Everyone is engaged in some activity or the other and regards what he is doing as of some importance. He thinks he is doing something for the final day. But when the day is over, and the last moment of his life approaches, he gazes with astonishment on his failure to achieve anything; the last page of his life’s book has imprinted upon it, ‘Nothing’.

How strange that we cannot understand the valuelessness of our actions, and how equally strange that we should remain preoccupied by non-issues. How many of us, if we were truthful, would write “Nothing” in the pages of our diaries.