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On Top Of It All

  20” by 19”, Mixed media, $399.

Questioning how to give meaning and purpose to life is an ongoing process.  Answers evolve and change with age and circumstance. 

Life’s Meaning

Winter holidays usher in a joyful bustle of activities with family and friends but since it is the end of one year and start of another,  they are also a time to pause for reflection.  

When I was sixteen, my boyfriend asked, “which is better a life of love or a life devoted to a quest of knowledge and its application to living?”  Without hesitation we both chose love, but as years passed, there were times when the quest for knowledge and career ambitions made us rethink our answer.  Today I would respond by saying both.

My memory was stirred by an article I read this week on BBC’s news website.    Several educated Indian women were forced by their families and their university professors to give up doctoral ambitions in health care in order to be full time mothers taking care of their families.  Married women “are not expected to want the privilege of thinking and doing research,”  said one of the homemakers interviewed.  Yet, in India, woman are starting to speak up and not give in to custom.  They are finding ways to continue their research through online virtual laboratories and by participating in conferences conducted through Skype. Instead of being confined solely  to housework, these highly educated women have options never before imagined. 

Many other questions were raised during my college years. What is the meaning of life and what is one well lived? Is there a God?  What ethical ideals should I embrace?  How will my hobbies and choice of profession contribute to society? These inquiries were buried when raising five children and starting a career. But every once in a while, a decision had to be made that gave me pause to think. Should I choose advancement, money and accompanying stress over family harmony? Do I go on a business trip rather than stay home with a sick child? Is what I do more important than my husband or children’s ambitions?

From time to time these basic considerations suddenly popped up, demand ing an answer. As a more mature woman I am reflecting again on life’s meaning.   When I hear friends saying, “I’ve done enough for others. Now it is time to complete my bucket list,” I ask myself if this Is the best way to conclude my years?  But, somehow this remark doesn’t make sense to me. What difference does travel to exotic places, sky diving, or snow shoeing in the mountains make?  Though they may be exciting these activities  do not provide me with a purpose to live.  Instead they are a way to pleasantly pass idle time while waiting to die.  Why spend the money?  Why change the habits and sensibilities I have accumulated over the years? Then again, why not? 

Deciding how to live is not only  a quest of the young but is a multi-year process that twists and turns with experience and circumstance. My responses have been challenged many times as I developed a deeper understanding of the environment, politics, and the earth’s far flung inhabitants.

Today when I ask what type of person I want to be and what makes life meaningful, I continue to look to the future—not of mine, but of those who will follow me. I still hope that the world will be a better place for my children and grandchildren and want to share my mistakes and achievements so they can move on from where I leave off.  My ongoing quest for knowledge remains pleasurable and gives me much do, but I am less focused on the need to achieve and more interested than ever in educating.  Helping the "me generation”  overcome the stigma that has been assigned to them, seems like a fulfilling mission.  With the energy of youth they have a chance of doing what my eco-friendly, peace generation started by did not complete.  Inspiring them to  love and care for humanity is a gift I would like to leave behind.

Do have a wonderful holiday with family and friends and best wishes as you reinvent yourself in the New Year.

Reference:

Anderson,T.2017.We Should own our own livelihood and our own dream. BBC News. retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42188808

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Please share below your thoughts about those things that give your life meaning.