about the universe forum commander Shop Now Commanders Circle
Product List FAQs home Links Contact Us

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Do Something With Your Life

This is Steven Petrick Posting.

There are competing philosophies in life. The one that has the upper hand in the United States currently is simply he who lives the longest and has the most fun wins. This is a destructive philosophy, one of the problems that is weighing down the entire world.

Life is not about simply living as long as you can and having as much fun as you can. That is ultimately futile simply because no matter how long you try to live, you will eventually die. Death is the only thing that is more certain than taxes for the average human being, which includes everyone now living on this planet (or in orbit above it).

You have a limited amount of time on this ball of mud, and what each of us should do is find something to do with our lives.

We are not going to see "the future", that is to say what will happen after we have gone. But all of us should strive to do our bit to make the future better, not just for our own children but for the world as a whole.

Wasting the fleeting hours of our lives sucking down pharmaceuticals or alcohol to numb the pain of existence is foolish. Find something you can do to make the world better.

Does this mean that you should never have fun and should live your lives as ascetic monks in a monastery? No. It does mean that you should do something that will give your life meaning not just for yourself, but for others.

Every day of our lives we are writing what will be our own obituaries. Consider your own life and what you would like to have people read about you.

It does not mean you must do what would be best in my own eyes (for example). I consider Cindy Sheehan, bereaved mother or not, an opportunist and remarkably lacking in common sense (my opinion, I have no doubt others consider her a hero). You have to admit that when she dies there are going to be people who will remember her, she has decided to do something with her life, whether it is ultimately for good or ill. While I can respect little else about her, I can respect that she is not simply letting the hours of her life pass by listlessly.