Life
Sitting on the white sandy beach of Kaanapali in Maui, Hawaii a young boy approached me begging for a dollar. Seeing that he really needed and wanted the money, I gave him without any thought. I actually gave the boy two dollars more than he asked. The boy looked at me and said, “Why did you give me more than I asked,” a question I was not prepared to answer. I told him to enjoy it because live is short. The boy looked me in the face and said to me, “Sir, what is life?” Very amazed by his question, I told him I didn’t really know. The boy smiled with me and ran off to play with his friends. But what is Life? Life is the greatest unknown; it is a mysterious, unpredictable cascade of unbelievably amazing, unpremeditated experiences. Life is a true abyss, the truth may be right before your eyes or yet the truth may be so far from your eyes that trusting your eyes may be of dyer consequence. Knowing the difference between the two adds another element of difficulty not many can sincerely claim to have dealt with victoriously.
Life is never what one would wish, as life feels no guilt, contorting ones hopes, aspirations and dreams to produce a never ending array of experiences. Life is never subject to control; rather it has a sense of irony, sometimes indescribably so. Life is a teacher, an understatement that can be dismissed by no one. I myself have been time and time again a pawn in the game of life. Life has taken away so much from many of us, but for good reasons, so as to allow us to realize that we were blessed to have had so much to lose. Life has though offered us much more than we will ever know. But the greatest lesson life has taught us may be confined here in these words. We are all unique, all of our lives are unparalleled, and we are a mirror image of no one. People find it amazing how quickly children can develop into teenagers and how seemingly regressed they are at the age of adulthood. Many of us have had various good and bad experiences in life and have had to make many choices that life has thrown at us, but I believe it is these decisions and choices that we make in life that make us who we are. I have witnessed much and recognized that problems are just as good as no problems because we can change them. Many of us fail to realize that the reasons we have problems in life is because of the way we live life with each other. We don’t realize that we do evil, atrocious things to people that do good, caring things to us. Another main reason why we fall into problems is because of the many lies and deceitful, hurtful things we utter to each other. It is true we live in a very sinful world today, but it is no excuse for the way we treat people in our lives, and people we have come to know in life. It is also true that to tell the truth is hard in life because we usually suffer or inflict pain on others, so why do we do it? We tell lies, because lies are easier to tell than the truth. But is this what we really want? Especially when we consider the many other sins and lies that we will have to answer come our day of judgment by a power that knows our whole past. I am not a holy person or saint; in fact, I am a sinner, just like many other humans, but what I have come to realize in life is that it is not the amount of sin you commit or the wrong things you do. What really matters is what you do to correct your wrongdoings. It is what you do to try and make a wrong right. It is what you do to try and change. Change is the keyword to our success in life. Whether we choose to change or remain, who we are in life is left up to us. Many people are from various ethnic cultures and background, whether African American, Hispanic, Chinese etc., but no matter what your ethnicity we all can change if we try, and we all have the power to do so. We are all people searching for something or someone in life.
One of the most painstaking acts in life is knowing when we do wrong things to ourselves, or to others, and trying to hide it from ourselves; pretending like it did not happen, telling ourselves we did nothing wrong or trying to convince our mind it was not us. Despite the length of time or the effort put forth the truth can’t be denied, it did happen, and no matter how hard you try to forget it, it won’t go away because we all have three spiritual elements inside all of us, The Heart, The Soul and The Mind. These three guardians never deprive us of the truth or the feelings we have inside. Many of us try to hide who we are because of shame or dislike of our very ways of life. We are only fools in our own minds, because what we fail to realize is this is impossible, because the more you try to hide who you are and what you do in life, the more you actually show the type of person you are. No matter what you do in life, whether good or bad you are shaping how others see you. Ironic isn’t it! It is like that popular cliché, “Actions speak louder than words?” If you are a good person, the kindness will show in you, but if you are a bad person the evil will show in you. As it is also said; “Never judge a book by its cover
In life most people have morals and a conscience yet fail to use them. We know things are wrong but we still do them. To avoid hell, we act as though we are true Christians. We repent; we pray if our conscience bothers us, we are hypocrites. We do these things because we believe repenting magically erases them. A life can be its own reward just as it may be its own punishment. What one has done unto others will be reflected back unto him/her. The wrong they do will return unto them. I believe people are selfish if they believe that they are better than others, or if they deserve something more in life. One life can change so many others and even an entire world, why save its potential for an Afterlife. Eternal life is in another sense achievable, eternal life in the hearts of people. If one was good, genuinely good, their existence can live on forever in the hearts of the people that person touched. People can change, but just not over night; they change through the passage of time. We all can achieve greatness in life but we need to show love, affection, and honesty to each other before this is achieved.
In my life, what most people would consider a short span of time, I have managed to experience and understand more that most others could if they live to be a hundred years old. I have many unique views pertaining to life, which I have come to realize and understand. I believe all of us, both male and female, have these unique qualities but fail to utilize them. This is most likely because most of us fail to utilize one of the greatest gifts given to us, the power to love. Without it we are nothing and we will be led to our demise. What I mean by this is not just saying to someone you love them or appreciate them, but showing them what you say. Remember, we all can tell a person how much we care and never meaning a single word we say.
Some of the greatest things in life are the people we get to know who change our lives forever. They may also have a positive impact on our hearts. These are the people we know we can rely on, or who we know will always be there for us in times of happiness or sorrow, in times of poverty or wealth, in times of sickness or health, in times of rain or shine. These people mean so much to us, but sometimes we never tell each other how much we mean to one another. In life, there are always positive and negative forces around us trying to destroy what is good. Some of these negative forces though are inflicted by us when deceit and lies come into play. Friendship is a very delicate treasure because friends should trust friends, but what happens when your friend(s) starts leading you down the wrong path in life? Should you follow or should you decide for yourself your own path. The choice is yours, but be wise in your decisions. One of the most hurtful things in life comes when we believe person is our friend, but come to find later that he/she wasn’t. Friendship is meant for life, or at least they say so. It is something that should be developed, something that grows stronger with time, no matter how far apart you are from the other person. Distances doesn’t play a role, they’re just miles apart. In life everything must be a challenge, even friendships. Broken friendships are just a way we are put to the ultimate test; obstacles thrown in our paths test our resolve. Others anxiously wait to see us fail in the face of these trials. We must not be fooled, we must regain strength in each other as friends, so when life comes at us full force and tries to knock us down we will survive and come out on top.
Through all of my experiences, and especially those since I met that boy, I don’t take anything for granted. Life is too short to hold grudges or be upset. Love and friendship should take the forefront in life. As wise person once told me, “Love yourself, others, and have respect for yourself and others. Live your life so well that when you die, you are the one smiling and everyone around you is crying.”