Tuesday, February 16, 2010

What I (will) have lived for

Or: A portrait of the blogger as an old man

Or: The assignment said to write what you'd like to be able to write when you're 90 years old, so this is what I wrote.

I have never intended to make the world a better place.

That's not to say that there's nothing in the world that could be improved. On the contrary, there have been any number of things about the world, about society, about technology, and especially about myself, which I have felt should be fixed. I have done what I could when I've had the chance, but most of these things have been out of my reach for my entire life, and show no signs of changing now. I have lived in this imperfect world, and I have overlooked its flaws, but I have never accepted that this is the way the world must be.

From time to time, though, I have had the opportunity to solve some odd problem, or repair some minor flaw. In doing so, I have made the world a less irritating place to live, for myself, and hopefully for others. It is this idea - acting on the issues that bother me, instead of leaving them as they are - that has been my guiding principle over the years. This sort of principle will probably not solve all the problems of the world, but I sincerely believe that if everybody acted according to it, it could at least solve all the problems we care about.

Some problems, on the other hand, are too enduring to even begin to solve in a human lifetime. Boredom, pain, sadness, and regrets are never far away, if we let them approach, and this is simply a part of being human. Thus far, I have managed to live an interesting, comfortable, happy, and fulfilling life, and I have tried not to stop others from having the same. To the extent that I have succeeded, I am glad to have improved the lives of those around me, or at least glad to have not made things worse.

I have lived my life fighting the good fight, and if the world has become any less a terrible place because of it, so much the better.

2 comments:

Kiriska said...

It's the little things that everyone should strive for.

That said, I think this could have been more interesting if it had been more specific. I suppose that would have made it much more challenging though. :>

P. Static said...

Well, I had like half a page to work with XD The assignment was pretty specific about length for some reason