I was thinking that there are other issues to explore beside politics. One is the age old meaning of life question. I know all the great philosophers have pondered this question, but if you have ever read their texts you will find them difficult to follow and always flawed in one premise or another.

As I get older, I see the cycle of life from different perspectives. As a child, I saw my parents and their siblings get old and eventually pass away (just my mom, one uncle and a couple aunt left now). At the same time I experienced my own growth and maturity from childhood to adulthood. I then saw my child develop from an infant and watched him grow along the same path I just traveled. My Step daughter has had two babies now, and I am watching the development all over again. As I pass quickly through middle age and head for "seniority" I become profoundly aware of my own mortality. The so called circle of life starts to look like a straight line, heading one way with new folks getting on at the beginning and old ones getting off at the end. Other than the built in drive that all organisms have to procreate, what is the meaning of it all? Why bother?

I remember my mom saying if you think about it long enough, you get depressed and suicidal. I can see how that would happen. So we all continue on the same path, either pretending we don't know where it goes, or just accepting it and ignoring it. We rarely talk about it, yet it will happen to all of us and will be a far more significant event than most of the things we talk about for days at a time.

I was thinking the other day, this doesn't have to be a depressing subject does it? I guess I'll find out here. What do you think.

 

No, I don't think it has to be a depressing subject. There is a certain symetry to all of this, and I think you touched on it. I do think, however all of life is a circle, even though it does appear to be a straight line.

Something that I've thought about is the question of do we ever really die. Of course we do, but we leave behind a piece of ourselves in everyone we've touched. Some of my father lives on in me, and some of me will live on in my sons I hope. In that sense we live forever.

 

Bill, I started a thread once that was something like, "What do you think happens after you die?" That is how I see the question of the meaning of life.

I believe each one of us is here to learn specific lessons from our specific lives, and that when our life gets hard, we learn the most. I believe when we die we just loose the human body but are still alive in spirit form, and take what we have learned with us.

 

Funny (ironic) that you mention suicide as a dear old friend just did himself in the other day; devastating to the family. Depression can be overwhelming and the holidays are difficult times for many.

 

I've heard that too. I've heard that the suicide rates go up around the holidays. I suppose loneliness and depression are both even harder to take when everyone around you seems to be celebrating.

 

I usually find December a hard month. I tend to be sadder then than at any other time of the year.

 

It all depends on what aspects of one's life and death one chooses to focus upon, I suppose. I don't find the thought of my death all that depressing. I never thought that I would live to see thirty, but much to my surprise here I am.
I prefer to focus on the wonder and awe in the fact that I exist at all. In doing so I've won a cosmic lottery; the odds of which, when just the combination of genes required to produce me are factored in, are somewhere in the neighborhood of one in seventy trillion. If I were to also factor in the odds of all the chance events that lead to my conception and continued survival, the probability of my existence approaches zero. But, yet again, here I am.
As for my death, I care far less about being remembered than I do about dying with a clear conscience. As I've gotten older and lost my cockiness and illusions of immortality, my overall philosophy in life is to attempt to tread lightly and leave the room in better shape than I found it.
My view of life for me is that it's like attending a movie. I've shown up late and I'm going to get called away early. So I never got to see the story's beginning, nor will I get to see its ending - only a brief glimpse of the action on the screen. Although the movie will continue on with all its plot twists and turns long after I've left the theater, I'm still fairly confident that the butler did it.

 

Well said. LB

 

Why not bother? The meaning of life is defined solely by the person who lives it. No philosopher, guru, or theologian can define it for us. They can only relate their own definitions to others. We can define our lives by emulating them or by writing our own. And this is one of those rare cases where plagiarism is not only perfectly acceptable, but encouraged.

 

In simple terms I think we have the option to live in the past, present, or future. I choose to live in the present. I always have.

Growing up, people would always ask me what I planned to do. My answer was always the same, "I don't know." And I truly didn't because I never thought about it. I took things as they came and made short term decisions without real thought to the long term picture. A good argument could be made that I was focused on the present to a fault. My personal profile tests always showed that. I think it may have been my way of counteracting my mother's non-stop worrying about things in the future. I would watch her worry herself sick over things that never happened. She is now 88 and if you want to discuss the subject of death she will be more than glad to talk about it with you for days on end. But, she was the same way 50 years ago!

Like dean, I feel like I am just here for the ride, wondering how I ever made it this far, and trying to enjoy it and make the most of it. I already know how I will be remembered. Two of my kids will love me and one will hate me. When I think about my death, which isn't often, my first thought is I hope I have a couple useful parts left for someone but I doubt it since I've abuse so many.