The meaning of Life

As human beings we all know that we re going to die, and as a result of that knowledge we attempt to figure out what the purpose of life is. For all of us the purpose of life is different since we all hope to achieve something different. I do not think that we ever consciously decide what the purpose of our life is. But rather, it presents itself to us as we gain knowledge, experience, and age. In my case, for example, I cannot pretend to know what the purpose of my life is. I do; however, know that there are certain things that I want to achieve before I die.

            As I watch people close to me get older I try to understand what makes their lives valuable. Watching these people has made me realize that there is absolutely no purpose to life if we cannot enjoy it. Life is valuable because we get to experience things on our own, we get to learn, love, and grow, but if in the end we are not happy than all of that had no meaning. Therefore, my biggest goal that I thrive to achieve is to be able to look back on my life when I am old and dying, and be happy with that I have accomplished.

            Being happy is a universal search and critical to humanity. Having a world full of unhappy people would led to chaos

            In order to achieve this happiness, there are several things that I think I need. The first and most important being a family that loves me. The person that I most respect in my life is my grandfather. He has not done anything particularly special with his life worth merit, but what he has done is created a family who unconditionally loves him. This family consists not only of children and grandchildren but aunts, uncles, nieces, son in laws, and friends. To me this is his biggest achievement, and I hope that when I grow older I will have a family who is close to each other and who loves each other and will stand by each other through anything.

            Another thing that I would like to accomplish before the end of my life would be to have ethics, which I will stand by. This is valuable to me because my father has always taught me that success is nothing if you do not have ethics. As I began working in the real world and at school I realized that this is true. Its so much easier to get what you want if you take short cuts and hurt others but I would rather achieve what it is I want by being a good and honest person. This idea is not only important to me but also humanity because the reason our society runs the way it does is because there are some people with ethics who keep honesty alive. Without ethics our world would crumble and we would be wild.

            Before establishing exactly what my ethics are; however, another thing that I need to achieve is finding and defining myself. I do not know what I will find, and how I will find it but I hope that before I die I will know who I am. This idea of self-realization goes along with my happiness because I cannot be happy until I know who I am and what I am meant to do. At this moment I think that I know what I have to do, but this can easily change as I get older. Therefore, I hope that my life will be able to define me. I think that it is important for all of humanity that people find themselves because it gives people value and purpose, which in turn gives humanity value.

            One last thing that I truly want to accomplish before the end of my life would be to travel. Travel is important because it helps us accept other cultures and it helps our global awareness. Many problems in our world today were caused by the lack of knowledge and acceptance of other people, cultures, and religions. By traveling I hope to learn and understand the differences in our world. Among the countries I want to visit would be African countries and India.

            Although everyone has different goals in life, I believe that there are goals which are universal. I believe that we are all in our own ways looking for happiness. In my case, I hope that happiness, ethics, family, self-realization, and cultural acceptance will give my life value. I think that the search for the meaning of life has taken place since the beginning of time, and will continue forever. Our lives have been explained in many different ways over the years, whether it be through religion, myth, science, or medicine, we have always attempted to explain our existence. Maybe though, it is better to just live our lives and see where we are taken.