“What is the meaning of life?” A deep and thought-provoking question that many of us struggle with answering. This question was posed to young men studying Level One English as part of the emphasis on Character Education. While young men studying at that level will not have a complete answer, the intent of the activity is to encourage them to think critically and to begin to develop an answer – one that will no doubt be modified and developed as they do. Thanks to the young men who had the courage to share parts of their answers – hopefully their work will help to spark some dinner table conversations in our school community.
“Dreams are an indication of what we enjoy and defines who we want to be. It is the final key needed for a meaningful life that is worth living. We’ve had dreams and ideals from the day we could talk. They are the ‘X’ on the map that marks the treasure. It is what cannot be achieved at the exact moment but has the potential to happen in the future. This is the most crucial part of happiness and maintaining a meaningful life. It is a target, and that drives us forward. Dreams won’t put you off, as the future is unknown, and anything can happen. However, as dreams present our lives with meaning, it is important that one realizes that dreams must be worked for to be achieved. Dreams are stubborn and will not be easily attainable, and we must be persistent because it is worth it in the long run. If we continue, claw our way up, we will become a stronger people, happy people, with a meaningful life with direction.”
“What gives life meaning? There are those who believe in Gods and Deities, of ethereal beings the likes of which no one could understand. They use the idea of a higher power to give life and meaning to their reality. But then, there are those without faith, without belief, who never dare to think beyond their own understanding. This leads many of them astray down a dark, sad path. Believing that every laugh, cry, everything, is happening because of an accident; that the only role a higher power has is to bring order and control to our anarchic species. And when that belief is inspected further, the concepts of meaning and purpose become of little value. To trust this view on the world is to deem life meaningless, to conclude that life has no meaning. In the poem Life: Meaningful or Meaningless? The author visits this bleak opinion of the world, and even at times agrees with it, writing:
“Life acts such like a deranged psychopath,
And we its silent, captive patients,
Given the illusion of control,
When in reality we are back seat drivers to deaf men.
It stares at us through a cracked rear-view mirror,
Eyes ablaze with never-ending mania,”
The author is attempting to communicate to the audience what they believe is the ugly truth of life, that we have no control, because none of it has meaning. That our vain pursuit for significance is in fact vain, that we are searching for meaning in tragedy. That we give this existence too much credit, like putting rotten fruit on a pedestal and claiming it to be a metaphor for depression. That life is not a beautiful tapestry, but a violent composition of demented lunacy. The cracked rear-view mirror is symbolic of how this life refuses to take a different path, shows that it is doomed to repeat, doomed to live in its ceaseless infatuation for pandemonium. All this is pushing one point. Life does not have meaning. It is not a brilliant story and it does not have a divine plan. Life is a deranged psychopath, giving us the illusion of control, blinded to the past by a cracked rear-view mirror, destined for never-ending mania. A joyless answer, yes, though to say it is less likely than any other would be a naïve falsehood. I yearn to discard this paragraph, to destroy and replace it. For as I write this, I feel the virtually insurmountable apprehension of being faced with the intangible, of having to define something that refuses to take form. I stare into the eyes of a dystopian reality, begging myself not to blink. In this boundless ocean of thought, my mind begins to tire; though I refuse to wilt, driven by man’s insatiable hunger for true self-awareness. So, I ask once again... What gives life meaning? If my words do not evoke a feeling inside you, may the words of a genius bring solace to your piling questions of a meaningful existence. “[The sound of the wind] was just more proof that the workings of the world were random, that beauty, like suffering, was meaningless, that human life was as pointless as waves on sand.” -Anita Diamant, Day After Night”
“Most people have a firm moral compass with the belief that there is a higher power whether it be God, or the universe. I believe that we are all placed on this earth to leave the world in a better position than when we entered it. Each and every one of us has been given a unique gift to help us to uplift those around us and towards the betterment of our civilisation. Helen Keller once remarked, “I am only one but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” Regardless of who we are, our physical state, and our social status, everyone has the ability to change the world for the better, whether it be a small random act of kindness or giving away large sums of money to impoverished countries. However we express our kindness, we will never forget the joy that comes from doing so. This is what our world needs desperately; kindness. Once we have done our bit, big or small, we will get an understanding of what it really means to live.”
