Does it mean to be like Ghandi or Mother Teresa and change the lives of millions of people?
Does it mean to be a doctor and save the lives of hundreds of people?
What about the nurse who helps the doctor? Does he/she get any of those "you helped somebody, your life now has a purpose" points?
What about the doctor who accidentally kills someone, does he/she lose points?
And what about that guy? You know, that guy who drives the bus you get on every day? Does his driving skills make his life useful? Does it matter that there are possibly 20 other people just waiting to replace him? Maybe some of them are wishing he could be a little bit less useful...
And what about me?
I want to be a teacher. Does that make my life meaningful?
What if I don't want to be a teacher the rest of my life? What if I am just using this meaningful career to do something less meaningful like make money so I can go to grad school?
Is that bad?
Should I just be satisfied with my meaningful career and not hunt for any more personal satisfaction?
Is my goal to one day be a stay-at-home mom make my life more or less meaningful?
Does my politically correct use of "he/she" make my life more meaningful?
Okay, probably not.
You know what makes my life useful?
The fact that I'm living it.
How sweet. I feel like I am probably doing the most useful thing I will ever do. I brought three kids into the world, and since I got them here, I figure I should probably do a good job of raising them. Besides a baby can't do ANYTHING for itself. I am probably never so useful to a person as I am to a newborn!
ReplyDeleteBut as far as being useful to the world and not to individuals. According to the world I am probably considered quite wasteful for bringing said children here. Oh well.
PS. Emma, take the dumb word verification thingy off! It makes commenting slightly annoying. You could just add it if you ever got spammed or something, but it might not be necessary unless that happens.
Thanks for the advice Reeny, I'm on it.
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