Wow what is the meaning of life

"Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone- we find it with another."

Thomas Merton- American Catholic writer and mystic. A Trappist monk, poet, social activist and student of comparative literature.

When I first read this quote I thought that it was very accurate. Mostly because my whole life I was taught by fairy tales that once you find someone you find true happiness and everything is perfect. Obviously we've all gotten to that age when we realize that things are far more complicated than we thought they were. Maybe it's just me but the first thing that popped into my head when Merton wrote the word "another" was a lover, a partner. But it could really mean anyone. With that I agree. I don't agree that we must find a lover to find happiness or to have meaning in our lives. There are so many people worth loving and the first one that we should learn to love is ourselves. So that is what I believe is the meaning of life. To love and not necessarily to be loved in return, other than by yourself. I truly think that it is absolutely necessary to love oneself. Without doing so then of course you are going to find no meaning in life, you can't even find meaning in yourself. But yes in my opinion, if you love, you laugh, and thus you live. And that is what life is all about. Do that every day and the only thing you'll cry about is being overwhelmed with happiness.

Thankful for the Jenkin

I forgot the exact moment when i met Deja. Wait, no. I met her my freshman year when i decided to join the Young Company. After that i pretty much spent a whole year calling her Maranda but it had become normal for her to be confused with her sister. What i love about Deja is that she is actually her own person. Twins tend to be similar even though they try really hard to be different but Deja has come to be a person far from that of Maranda. I definitely think she'd love to hear that. But anyway, Deja is such an amazing writer. If that is what she plans to pursue then she will surely accomplish that which she strives for. She also says things like they are, which is something i truly admire because to me, honesty, regardless of the harshness, is always for the best. I'm so thankful that i got to meet Deja because she is one those necessary people in life that has offered me such a different view on life that i will consider not only now but in the future as well.

Into the Wild- Alone

I think that what Chris decided to do was selfish and selfless at the same time. I understand that people sometimes need to take time for themselves to figure themselves out and I believe that that is necessary but the way he came about things was selfish. He left without telling anyone and even if there were problems between he and his family, they were left worried and basically fell apart.

He also lacked knowledge of how to survive in the wild and it was ignorant of him to think that there would not be such a terrible consequence. Maybe it's just me putting others before myself but i would not have done things that way. At least leave a letter or something Chris.

I did like that in the end he did find happiness though. It showed me that you need the struggle so that at the end of your life you have something to truly be thankful for.