basic principles

“Never lie, steal, cheat, or drink. But if you must lie, lie in the arms of the one you love. If you must steal, steal away from bad company. If you must cheat, cheat death. And if you must drink, drink in the moments that take your breath away.”
-Alex Hitchins

To lie, steal, cheat and drink are all negative actions that is true, but when going into further detail one can discover a bit of good in them when applied differently. This quote is a perfect example of how life is definitely not a one-way street. It is full of turns and twists to the point where that nothing appears black and white, but rather is full of gray spots.

Everyone follows certain morals that set humans apart from animals and their work. Then there are times when one is faced with challenges and must decide what is the right thing to do. It is not the problems that make the person; it is how that specific individual handles the conundrums and the results of their possible solutions. The result does not always match up with the individual’s desired solution. How they deal with what is in front of them shows an enormous amount about the content of their character.

In a common dictionary the term respect is defined as the following: high or special regard. Out of all the virtues in the world, respect is most significant. To have respect for others is quite a rare thing in today’s society. People nowadays do not even respect the meaning of respect. Without respect one does not really mean anything or hold any significance to the world. To have respect for oneself is in its own right and astounding accomplishment. The way one carries themselves and interacts with others demonstrates the values that they posses. People can admire the individual for not being cocky, but confident and giving off the same amount that they have to others.

Growing up in the nineties everyone wanted to “Be Like Mike” well that was not the case for me. I wanted to be like Rp, my older cousin. Rp was someone who I knew I could always turn and still do to this day. I can remember how I always wanted my haircut to match his. With myself being the oldest sibling in my family I could never really enjoy the benefit of have an older brother. Rp was the closest thing I picture in that sense. He did not mind entertaining me even though I was eight years his major. Rp was able to set a good example in which I did not mind following. He did not teach school subjects like math, grammar, science, and history, but rather life lessons.

An example of a life lesson that Rp has taught me is to always keep my head up. If ever I felt disappointed in myself or something in life was not going my way, Rp would advise me to not give up hope and continue to work hard. He taught me if I keep up my diligence that things would eventually turn around. With a mentality like this in college I will be able to fulfill my potential and not just waste away in a great institution such as college. It is life lessons such as this one that I will remember forever and will eventually pass on down to my son so that it will too help him down the road of life.

There is not a day when I do not wonder what is the meaning of life. After many hours pondering about this question I came upon an answer that I was satisfied with. The meaning of life is to fulfill one’s goals. For example my goal in life is being able to provide for my family in the future. I want to be able to provide food for the mouths of my loved ones. For that to be possible I must have money in order to buy food. To have money I will have to work at my job for a living and to have a job I must do well in college to truly accomplish something in life. I must achieve these goals so that my children can follow in my footsteps and one day provide for my grandchildren. Hopefully my grandchildren can follow in my children’s footsteps and so on and so on. Life should not be defined from when I person was born until they pass. People live on through legacies and the others they have touched. One can only hope that they leave this world in better shape than when they came.

-julian