How important are we? If you hadn’t been born, would it matter? What exactly is so important about life that we feel like we must live it? I know we have instincts and all but we are also able to judge our instincts and question them.
Posts: 6432 | Location: Grayson, Georgia, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
I suppose that our lives are pretty much insignificant, jusork, unless we MAKE them significant.
Some people reach for the sky in order to make a huge contribution and be remembered... and others just cruise along.
Are you a contributor or a cruiser?
I must say, that I'm a "cruiser"! *********************************************** 12-20-03, 10:54 PM MommyTimesTwo I made two people! God can only say what that contribution in itself will entail for the future of our world. One of my children, one of my children's children, one of thier children's children, may find the cure to cancer or found a company or even be President.
There is no way to value a life, whether we can see a "valuable" contribution or not. Every life is precious.
Just look at it this way--you might ask what purpose it was for you to be born, but isn't being born purpose enough?
12-20-03, 11:04 PM Cyndiluwho_99 I made two people too....and one of them is going to be a police officer...so no telling whose life HE will save someday.
That's one reason I can't hate my ex too much. He made those boys with me, and I'm very proud of the men that they have become.
Any time I start to feel like my life has no impact, I just watch "It's a Wonderful Life".
12-20-03, 11:45 PM honilov Jusork, if we hadn't been born, it couldn't possibly matter. You can't miss what you can't measure. Once we are born, we are all important because we mean a lot to somebody, even if not to ourselves. We should live, even through hardships and/or pain until God is ready for us to die. Having said that...only the strong survive.
12-21-03, 12:18 AM DorianGreyed I can only echo Mx2 and Cyndi. There is absolutely no way of telling just how big of an impact one's existence can have, whether it is through children, or through one's actions or inactions. Consider Noah's wife - not even important enough to be given a name in the Bible, and yet... Do any of us know the names of the Albanian ancestors of Mother Theresa? (Remember, she was born in Macedonia!) For that matter, the ancestors of Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and others certainly made a difference. Few of us know who Amber Hageman was, yet most of us know what an Amber Alert is. Little is known about the ancestors of Nikola Tesla, yet without his Alternating Current plans, there would have to be electric generating plants in every neighborhood. Who first had the idea of a Suicide Hot Line? How many lives have been and will be changed because of that? It is impossible to know what one person's life will cause. Life seems to be the ultimate proof of the Chaos Theory.
12-21-03, 02:05 AM SeattleRon I think all of us living is of a big importance. If you think about the big picture. The smallest thing each of us do or say everyday impact a life in one way or another. Heres a perfect picture to paint. If my grandpa didn't go to sicily to meet my grandma. My dad wouldn't have been born. In turn if my dad wasn't born, then he couldn't have went to the Philipines to meet my mother. If none of that happened then I wouldn't be born and none of you would have the chance at meeting such a great guy like me....
That goes for a lot of people. Every life is very significant in it's own way. We all make an impact in this world in one way or another. Whether it be advertised in a newspaper or the world wide press. Or even amongst our friends. We all make a dent that lasts forever.
12-21-03, 04:29 AM Ewood27 Each one of us is the unique product of the mingled and intertwined bloodlines of a million or so ancestors. Even brothers, sisters and twins are different. There's only one of you and only one of me, and it's taken all those people to produce us.
Are we going to say they all wasted their time?
12-21-03, 06:09 AM shelster I am so glad to see others feel the way I do about this.
When I get down, I will often think of what my childrens children may accomplish. Or what about the 5 yr old who's grandpa was a hospice patient of mine. Maybe she'll fear death less because of the way I handle myself. Or maybe she'll become a nurse...and help others as well.
No matter how insignificant someone may feel, they have an impact on lives. I have friends in here, who have changed the course of my day just by some simple words, and in turn, may have changed the course of someone else's life.
No one is insignificant!
12-21-03, 06:56 AM dogspit When I read of others and the things they do in life, bringing children up, going places, making a difference...I only feel all the more that my family would be so much better off had I not been born. Not every life is valuable, not every person adds something worthwhile to the world.
12-21-03, 10:05 AM Kelleygirl Oh Dog, you've touched my life and everyone else here at AP. I may never physically meet you but be assured that your knowledge, your kindness, and your sense of humor are the very heart of this site. I'm so glad to have made your acquaintance, buddy.
12-21-03, 10:09 AM Jelp01 Well, gee, hearing about most everyone talking about their kids and what they might accomplish, THAT makes me feel insignficant. I have no children nor at this point in my life, I never will. Frown
I'm just kidding about that. I go through my times of feeling worthless, but yet I've had so many people tell me how much of a difference I've made in their lives. I guess the best example of this was my wife. We were married only a year and three months before she died, yet I had so many friends and family of hers tell me just what a huge impact I made in her life, how she was so much happier after she had met and married me. And they all thanked me for that. All I could think was she must have REALLY been unhappy before if I'd made that much of an impact.
So we make others' lives better in so many more ways than we could imagine.
Besides all that, if I weren't here, just think how much less knowledge all of you at AP would have gained! Big Grin
And Dogspit, I fully echo Kelleygirl's thoughts. I can say that I have been very glad to have made your acquaintence, whether or not in cyber land or real life.
12-21-03, 12:15 PM gizmogram Dog...you are WAY up there on my list of people that are important to me, and I would have been deprived if you had never been born and I hadn't had the opportunity to know you.
You HAVE and DO make a difference.
12-21-03, 01:03 PM MommyTimesTwo Especially for Jelp and Dogspit
There once was a little girl who lived with her parents. She never married, never had children, and in fact lived a great portion of her life in a small room writing in her journal. But yet she mananged to touch the lives of millions of people, through many generations.
Anne Frank never had kids, and certainly never thought her personal diary would ever mean anything to anyone. You never know what effect your life will have.
12-21-03, 01:27 PM niccincoogol Our lives are gifts. Would it make a difference if we were born or not? Who knows. Everyone has their own thoughts on what role and what significance they are playing in the world - this is very ambiguous in my opinion. The fact that we are placed on this Earth to experience all the unbelievable beauty is a bit of an overwhelming, freaky thing in itself (ex.'s - "LOTR - Return of the King" Big Grin, the Grand Canyon, the birth of your child, a 20 lb. walleye, a Barry Bonds home run, etc. etc. etc.) Without a mortal existence, be it a wonderful or miserable one, what argument do we have for the lack thereof?
12-21-03, 02:00 PM MommyTimesTwo
quote:Without a mortal existence, be it a wonderful or miserable one, what argument do we have for the lack thereof?
I do not subscribe to a religion, but I do beleive there is some higher power than ourselves, and I have to say that I doubt He/She/It would have bothered to create each person that exists without a purpose.
And without life, what is there? What is money, if you are dead? What is power, fame, glory...if you are dead?
Someone once suggested that abortion and other means to avoid pregnancy (though its really ending pregnancy, not avoiding it) are okay, because who can argue that the rights of a potential life are more important than the rights of a woman to "control her uterus"? But what is more important than life itself? What matters, without life?
12-21-03, 02:12 PM notinmyname "Why do we feel like we must live it?" I am glad that I get to live life. Everyday (well except last Tuesday, which was difficult) is a gift. I am happy to have had the opportunity to have heard beautiful music, sat by the ocean, loved a good man and seen my children become men. Nothing to do with my being important, although I hope my brief visit has done more good than ill.
Are you depressed jusork?
We live in a beautiful world, as long as you don't take the news from far off lands too seriously.
12-21-03, 02:52 PM jusork I completely agree about how we make our own meaning. Beyond that it's probably completely meaningless, but we can still make what we want out of it and become pointlessly happy. That's one of the ideas of existentialism that I completely relate to. And yeah, I'm a cruiser, too.
It is quite amazing to think about all the ways we can affect the world in even the littlest way. It's definetly a good way to show you the significance your life can have if you need to see that.
No, I'm not depressed, Notin. Thanks though. I think seeing the world as meaningless and "recovering" to live on in it's absurdity has made me the exact opposite.
12-21-03, 02:55 PM MommyTimesTwo Jusork
This may not help, but I found the "Incarnations of Immortality" series of fictions by Piers Anthony to give a really good view on why we live and what is the meaning of life. You might check them out.
12-21-03, 03:19 PM jusork How important are our lives? Wow, I haven't read a book for fun in maybe a year. I'll give this one a try though. Is there a specific book you'd recommend?
12-21-03, 08:28 PM DvdGStwrt I have touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, directly. I have met so many people it ain't funny. I have done things from donating a dollar to building things for free - somewhere amongst all of that I must have made a difference once.
If I haven't made a difference it is my own fault.
David
12-21-03, 08:31 PM MommyTimesTwo J
Do the whole series, there's 7 of them. Read them in order, too. Its amazing, the way the stories are interconnected with each other and with the meaning of life. I really hope you get as much from it as I did.
12-21-03, 08:50 PM mattlynda the first book in that series is 'on a pale horse.' one lone boring plain guy shoots someone, and suddenly finds himself in the job of 'death'. these are amazing books. my favourite was 'for love of evil'. (book 6)
12-21-03, 09:37 PM MommyTimesTwo That's my favorite too Smile
11-29-05, 08:40 AM Amna ones life means nothing to the other.others may pretend but deep down all they think of is themelves...in other words ones life is not important to the other at all....we r born to die....so whats the importance...??...this question to my mind can never be answered..
This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,
Posts: 5140 | Location: Not of this planet | Registered: 06-16-02
ones life means nothing to the other.others may pretend but deep down all they think of is themelves...in other words ones life is not important to the other at all....we r born to die....so whats the importance...??...this question to my mind can never be answered..
Originally posted by dogspit: When I read of others and the things they do in life, bringing children up, going places, making a difference...I only feel all the more that my family would be so much better off had I not been born. Not every life is valuable, not every person adds something worthwhile to the world.
I have to let everyone know that dogspit is the reason I am here posting on AP. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here right now. He has been such a good friend to me through some of my darkest days.
Remember:
To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world.
You mean the world to me dawg. You are valuable.
Posts: 5280 | Location: The Motor City | Registered: 06-03-02
one line missed here is judging our instincts and questioning them
first, to do that one must identify them. Yes, to be in the pursuit of what they are, where they often tend to show up. In the process, InshaAllah one stumbles upon how our unique inclinations/inhibitions/comfort zones tend to define us. They are an outline of what and who we are all about.
Being unique is the most common thing. So don't fret if you feel you haven't made a difference. You provided an oppurtunity to your better companions to help you, lol. ( yes, now is the time to go commit suicide once and for all) Sorry, sorry. Okay it's a serious topic.
To keep the body mind healthy, and soul uplifted; one must never stifle ones conscience. Being aware of ones inner self (instincts, intuitions, faith or lack of it, whatever) is key to keeping yourself alive. Also, it is more normal to question. ONes identity, purpose, faith, motto, being, the list just goes on. How may you attempt to discover God if you don't question existence. Please, it is kiddish to be afraid of such stuff.
I thought, "What if each of us is only a dot on the world map?" So I typed "answerpoolcom" and was asked, "Do you mean 'answerpool com'?" Apparently, someone else never heard of a mere dot. So I tried "www.answerpoolcom" and came to a list of pool sites. The one listed for pool players--a regular pooldawg--seemed to be a hoot. Moral: when you think that you are not worth much, just wait around for your next laugh, because that is when you will realize that life is worth living just for the bits of fun in it.
tsaeb,try finding what the weather is in Cairo, as I once did, and learn that it is surprisingly wet. Then discover that the search engine has given Cairo, New York, as its automatic response.
The importance of us as 'dots' varies according to who is assessing us.
Originally posted by tsaeb: FredPuli: During your Internet travels, I can't imagine what kind of a cookie was left on your computer.
Cookie? Do you mean a biscuit? Yes, there are ginger nut crumbs all over it and it's possible that a raisin from a garibaldi is stuck in there somewhere, but that hasn't caused any obvious problem.
beast, sorry, tseab and Fp, I really agree with both of your inputs. (Initial non cooky travel ones, ofcourse) Infact those I never thought of...........the reason these forumz were generated.......pooling of ideas..
Do you mean a biscuit? Yes, there are ginger nut crumbs all over it and it's possible that a raisin from a garibaldi is stuck in there somewhere, but that hasn't caused any obvious problem.
