Over the last few days, someone very dear to me forced me to re-consider my priorities and justify the same to her. To give a little background, my friends mean the world to me; they deserve my utmost respect, loyalty, and help. Given a budget, I would much rather spend money on them first, and should the money run out, I would gladly forego my opportunity to spend. The same goes for work - I would much rather stay awake and help my friends out than sleep if I know they are going to be pulling an all nighter. In context, I was asked why I am the way I am in this regard. My usual response to this is always something along the lines of friends being there for me while family members quarrel and bicker, friends lending me my emotional aid whilst family turned a cold heart towards me. However, I realized this must be the case with plenty of people; yet not many people will be willing to engage in all that I have and intend to do. And I finally realized why I do do, whatever it is I do.
I believe that a person who enters this world should exit the world having made it better in some way. I sincerely believe this to the point where I would respect an athiest who engaged his life to community service in person or kind more than an individual who did nothing all his/ her life but sit and pray, given the extent to which I believe in and respect God. This is not to say praying and worshipping a diety is wrong, but it must be complemented with some sort of service to people/ society.
So, my base view is that I am worthless to the world when I am born and my cost to society is enormous. My goal then becomes to engage in activities that will provide society with a return on investment. As a realist, I understand that hoping to change the world in a sweeping fashion is beyond my means and scope. I therefore help my friends out and share my material and emotional facets with them in a means to make them happier and live as content a life as possible. If that means spending X hundered dollars on a gift for a close friend to cheer him/ her up, then so be it. If it means sacrificing your sleep so that your friend does well on his assignment, then as per this diktat, the goal is thus.
Anyone who reads this must assume I am crazy, possibly naive to place such high value on my relationships with my friends. But to me it is my way of showing my gratefulness to my friends, my way of giving to society, my way of making the world a better place little by little. After all one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind right?
I believe that a person who enters this world should exit the world having made it better in some way. I sincerely believe this to the point where I would respect an athiest who engaged his life to community service in person or kind more than an individual who did nothing all his/ her life but sit and pray, given the extent to which I believe in and respect God. This is not to say praying and worshipping a diety is wrong, but it must be complemented with some sort of service to people/ society.
So, my base view is that I am worthless to the world when I am born and my cost to society is enormous. My goal then becomes to engage in activities that will provide society with a return on investment. As a realist, I understand that hoping to change the world in a sweeping fashion is beyond my means and scope. I therefore help my friends out and share my material and emotional facets with them in a means to make them happier and live as content a life as possible. If that means spending X hundered dollars on a gift for a close friend to cheer him/ her up, then so be it. If it means sacrificing your sleep so that your friend does well on his assignment, then as per this diktat, the goal is thus.
Anyone who reads this must assume I am crazy, possibly naive to place such high value on my relationships with my friends. But to me it is my way of showing my gratefulness to my friends, my way of giving to society, my way of making the world a better place little by little. After all one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind right?
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