[youngben]

How do you do it?

What I mean is, it does not take you long to realise that life can be one cyclical event. basically, you are born, you grow up, you nurture your offspring, you go through your twilight years wondering whether you brought your children up well enough to fend for themselves, then you die.

Sometimes you pride yourself for being able to see the bigger picture, in everything that you do, maybe thats what makes you successful among your peers, but heck this bigger picture thing can be a real pain. You tend to never enjoy the nitty gritty that makes life fun (or so you hear), everything and every comment you approach it with the zeal of einstein - and his same stupidity too.

You feel guilty being "foolish". you chide yourself because you got drunk 1 month ago and embarassed yourself by laughing loudly or being forthright to a friend about an issue that has been bugging you. Your best moments are immediately replaced by forlorn feelings of guilt, that you let go.

You already know that you are actually as important as an ant, you will promptly be forgotten once you are gone, ofcourse your loved ones will never forget, but your name will remain that, a name, you realise that we as humans and yes yourself, need not thump your chest, for your achievements, you already realise and see the true meaning of King Solomon, "Life is nothing but vanity". No matter what you kill yourself building, it will forever supercede you eventually, whatever you gets you an ulcer worrying will forever worry others but you will expire.

Some live because they are assured of a reward, some live because they have to, some live because they enjoy life, some are alive but do not live, with 5 billion people, there are 5 billion points of view, with 5 billion dreams, hopes and prayers - that may never come true.

Truly, how do you manage to have hope in tomorrow, when tomorrow is today?? when tomorrow is yesterday??

[MURMAID]

Najivunia kuwa mkenya... the translation is hilarious.

About your thread, If it's from your brain, congratulations! If not, credit the source Please. Let me just warn you in advance, am not picking a fight with you.
Don't get me wrong 'am not saying you can't write that good, I know you can.

[Ester]

Truly, how do you manage to have hope in tomorrow, when tomorrow is today?? when tomorrow is yesterday??
Well, welcome to the banality of existence!
Psa.103:15-16 says "that as for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more." As a christian, what gives life its meaning is the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Disappointments come in when one places too much importance on earthly things which undoubtedly perish.

[Type R]

Life, in and of itself, has an overwhelming drive. We are slaves to this drive. At some points, we may question the drive -- that is what Solomon did in the Book of Proverbs. But even when we question it, we still go back to our master drive.

For some people, it is material things. Many people acquire far more than they and their children can utilize. It is very interesting that some of Nairobi's richest people are in the office by 6 am on a Sunday, and will work until dark. That drive to acquire is what they measure themselves and the world by. 100 million in the bank? Give them another 200 million or more. Now we have the expression, "dollar millionaires."

For some people, it's fame and popularity. That's why you have zero-talent "musicians". When people cheer for them, when the crowds yearn for them, they're happy. Oddly, some of these people end up as lonely as everybody else, or in bad relationships.

For some, it's some kind of major intellectual achievement that makes them feel fulfilled. How many scientists want to discover a cure/vaccine for HIV-AIDS, cancer? How many want to discover life on other planets?

The big question is: are you doing what you want to do ... or what you have to do to earn a living?

If you're in the latter category, then life is a beetch!! This thread is for you. How are you keeping on? Waking up must be a nightmare. "Another f-ing day doing this sht-ing task."

Others are motivated by the welfare of their children.

[youngben]

Originally Posted by MURMAID

About your thread, If it's from your brain, congratulations! If not, credit the source Please. Let me just warn you in advance, am not picking a fight with you.
Don't get me wrong 'am not saying you can't write that good, I know you can.

Murmaid, be assured these are my thoughts, usually if i post anything thats not my thought I will quote it, mashadites are very knowledgable individuals, just read one thread "Is the problems Africans or are Africans the problem", a poor brother faced a few of mashada's finest for pliagery (sp), Only for jokes, limericks and some quotes do i not quote sources, its very difficult to do this.

Your observation and comment, though meaning well raises extremely sensitive issues (not pertaining to youngben) but thats a different subject matter altogether.

@ Ester - With due respect, how does your post differentiate from "people who keep on going because there is a reward at the end of it (life).

Taking Type R's case, a big question to you would be, "How does an atheist/non christians who takes option 2, (does not love what he does as an income earner) keep on?"

[Fraglante]

How do I do it?

I love life. That’s how I do it. By life I don’t mean ‘my life’ (although I love that too-soma signature) but rather I mean being alive. Being here now. I don’t think about how it would be if I wasn’t here. I think now that am here…

I never worry about futile things. Although again ‘futile’ is relative. Futile to me includes little everyday things like what do people think about me, what if I never did this last month, what will happen if a, b, c, d?

Its good to think ahead and to plan but so what if your plans don’t work out exactly as you had planned? I reorganize my plans and hope they work out better next time. One needs to be flexible, to be able to pick up the pieces start over and move on.

If I get sick I see a doctor, if I get tired I take a break/a rest, if am sad I cry, if am mad I let it roll, if I take out my anger on the wrong person I apologize, if I have an opinion I make it known without any regrets, if I fail I try again, if I want I get, if I cant I find a way to make it happen.

And these make my life interesting and worth living. Yes life is one cycle but it’s the little events therein that help me keep on. I know am not just existing because am alive and I have to live but rather life is a gift that comes in form of a cycle. I will make every stage of that cycle count. I will make every stage memorable. If I will not be remembered for the good I did on the face of this earth then I will be remembered by the crazy shiet I did that day at that place.

One more thing, I don’t do **** to be remembered, I do it because I feel like it and I don’t give a damn who says what or who will think what about it.

And that’s how I do it.

[grip_daddy]

Is life purposeful?

Depends on who you ask.

My answer is yes, and it's in God's perspective. Man exist as a tool or instrument through which a controversy that is universal between God and Satan is being demonstrated. With choice ability and decisiveness possible in everyman, the life a man lives is influenced by choices for either worth or worthless, in standards according to either it's a choice to God's or not.

Have hope for a better tomorrow. I live hoping that the reward talked of by Ester shall somehow befall me. The ways instructed biblically for a better today, a memorable yesterday and a hopeful tomorrow, even if viewed from argument of fallacy, provide remarkable principles of enjoying the happiness and joy at present.

Love your neighbor. The demand for the bible in this respect requires that I love myself, for without self love I cannot love my neighbor as myself. Appreciate your worth, your dignity, your respect, and show the same by valuing your neighbor, helping the needy, smiling together, and sharing in joy and sorrow.

This basic principles when truly lived make life interesting, fun and loving. It shows the need to eat healthy, dress moderately, and live longer.

The principles make me know that even if today turned into past, and no one remembered my name, worth or value, I lived a worthy life. That even if the reward of this life in that future are illusions, still my life was better than they that disregarded the basic biblical teachings of love, happiness, joy, care and hope.