MY LIFE

I will begin always with my end in mind , so that I may continually evaluate what the true priorities are in MY LIFE, taking care not to be a second hander or a people pleaser.

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I am going to die.

Hopefully, not any time soon, but sooner than I would like, no matter when it does happen. MY LIFE is limited, and I have no way of knowing just how limited. Every day that I wake up is a reason to be very grateful.

Death deFINES life, meaning that is what prevents it from being INFINITE.

If I were immortal, then the concept of MY LIFE would have no value. Since a value is something that someone seeks to gain, or strives to avoid losing, immortality would make this irrelevant.

However, loving life, is not the same as avoiding death. There is not just the matter of losing my life, but of wasting it, which I think is worse.

Ultimately, my highest moral purpose is to achieve my own happiness during my limited life. My own happiness is not a matter of seeking thrills or mindless pleasures but of reaching my full potential as a human being. I believe my full potential will be reached in finding a balance between producing, relaxing, having fun and achieving personal growth financially, physically, emotionally, mentally and socially. If I choose to express this more succintly, my happiness will be earned by doing my best!

My happiness will not be reached by sacrificing for other people's happiness, nor will it be reached by exploiting anyone. My happiness in not in conflict with anyone else's, in fact, the happiness of people I love and respect contributes significantly to my own, but their happiness is their moral purpose and responsibility and my happiness is mine.

I am always acutely aware that many people lost their lives fighting for freedom, because they preferred to risk their lives rather than to live in a world where freedom was threatened. This is a lesson, that shows that a life where one cannot freely act to gain their own happiness is worse than death. "Give me liberty or give me death". (Patrick Henry)

Because I am aware that my own freedom was earned through these people, I would consider it an insult to their memories to waste my own life..... and so I hope that if I can leave any type of legacy it will be to provide some type of inspiration for future generations to do the best they can to earn their own happiness.