“Living” – What It’s All About

Posted on February 21, 2014

G-d willing, I will live for 120 success and happiness filled years that will leave a long-lasting impact far after I pass into a new world.  In reality though, on a typical day, one must take time for sleep, food, work, and breaks.  These are all actions that are vital to our existence but would you call them life changing?  Would you say that those hours defined you?  Now, as much as I am human and need all of those daily rituals to live, I am not truly “living” unless I am contributing to society for a purpose larger than myself.  “Living” is not about the brand of clothes you wore or the body type you possessed, rather, it is about the impact you made, the lives you changed.  My goal is to make memories and inspire a positive chain reaction.  I cannot live my life contently, without knowing that I was “living” during those years.

During the thousands of minutes that I have roamed across the numerous paths of life, there are few significant instances that I can say with confidence have affected me in the long run.  When put on a scale weighing the influence that an event has had on my life, most moments are quite light.  I can barely remember what I did last Thursday, but I am almost positive that I will remember what I will be doing this Thursday.  I am 16 and at this point, I do not know what will be important in the span of things, but I have a strong feeling that this trip to New Orleans will be.

During these upcoming days, I could have been learning about polyatomic ions or the nationalist movement in Europe.  As much as that is important, these routine activities leave no guarantee of accomplishing my goal of helping the world.  Going to New Orleans though, working with Habitat for Humanity, public speaking, I believe that those lessons will be the ones that will be heavy enough to even break the scale measuring the value of a moment.  The skills I learn will be the ones that I will want to hold tightly, remember, and reuse in the future.  During The Mission, I hope to say, “I was living today,” and to the best of my knowledge, I will be saying that.