Good and Meaningful life (final paper)

Through the ages people have had many different beliefs on what is a good and meaningful life. Though the question arises what is a good and meaningful life? Often people’s perceptions on what is a good and meaningful life are influenced by the things in our every day lives. But there are also those that do not follow the dominant messages and define what is meaningful to them by the marginal and prohibited stuff in our culture. Corporate culture causes us to be puppets controlled by the strings of dominant and marginal messages making us have little control over our ideas on what is a good and meaningful life.

In my life right now I am surrounded by industrialization. So many things have changed. Values in particular have changed. Many people only care about the hottest and newest thing available. But I feel that if everyone lived much simpler lives and perhaps in a much simpler time then everyone would learn what is really meaningful in their lives. I feel that sometimes people confuse what’s meaningful to them with an illusion of what makes them happy and what they feel they could not live with out. And today that thing would most likely be wealth because the more money they have the more things they can buy which they think will make them happier. Although when going out on the street and asking people what was meaningful to them in their lives the majority answer was family. So there are some people who believe that meaningful things are not just material. Though I am sure there are many more who believe that material objects are most meaningful. This is because of the corporate messaging that goes on daily. Many different messages from what food you should eat, what you should wear, what’s the hottest look and many other things.

Andy Snyder said “Sometimes the way we determine the meaning of something is based on the function it serves in our lives”. I find this very true in my interpretation on what’s good and meaningful in my life. My family and friends play a big role in my life. I spend half my time with my friends and the other half with my family. They are with me throughout my life and will be there for me when I need help. As I grow older and my circle of friends may expand or shrink, I know that my family will always be there. And even when I’m away from my friends and family I can still chat with them over the phone or with instant messenger. It is also meaningful to me to know that I will always be there for them when they need me. My cats are also meaningful to me. They are a part of my family and have been with me since I was 5 years old.
The meaningful things in my life have to bring me happiness and have to have a good purpose. The meaningless things in my life are things that will not help me in the future and may hurt me. Though most of the time our lives are filled with both the meaningful and the non-meaningful things. And we accept the meaningless things because without having some meaningless stuff we couldn't appreciate all the meaningful things in life. To me material possessions are things that don’t make my life meaningful. Wealth is important and you see that in corporate messages yet those things are expendable. They are just face value. They don’t last like friends and family. I also believe that no one else can tell you what’s meaningful in your life. Only you can say what makes you happy. And maybe you think this is all wrong and that’s all right because they are my opinions and I may not have gotten them by myself but they still hold true for me.

I think being simple is important. I would take a day at the park or a day at the beach over a day in front of the tv and computer. I will be much happier and I will also be healthier. Being healthy is important in my life. I want to live as long a life as possible and even knowing that I will die eventually I want to make the most out of my life and try to not waste to much of it listening to the corporate culture of society. I also love the fact that any one of my friends will be right there hanging out with me outside. And who knows, maybe we could have a whole group gathering just being outside and breathing in fresh air instead of the cites polluted air. This also makes us more animal like. Most people today try to distance themselves from the fact that they are not animals but in reality we are no different.
In the end the meaningful things in my life are my friends and family. Though the fact is I am only 17 and I have room to change and forget things. In truth there is no saying that once I get farther into my life that I will not have a change of heart. So a question I have is when I get older will I still hold the same values and ideas that I do today?