Post 2: A Meaningful Life
Assigned: Wednesday, May 10th
Response due: Monday, May 15th
2 comments due: Wednesday, May 17th
* Your response should be a minimum of ten sentences. Use proper grammar, spelling, etc. and organization (topic and concluding sentences, transitions).
Tuesdays with Morrie communicates what Morrie Schwartz believed to be the key to living a meaningful life. He told Mitch, "So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning" (Albom 43).
What is the key(s) to a meaningful life for you? If you were to look back on your life at the end of your life, how would you have spent your time? What would you have focused on? What beliefs or values would have influenced you? What goals would you have pursued and achieved?
* In your post, INCLUDE YOUR LIFE'S SENTENCE written in class on Wednesday, May 10th.
The key to a meaningful life for me is to live it as positively as I can and to be as respectful and kind to others as I can. Some of these can be challenging because there is always going to be some conflicts in life, but I always want to try and stay positive instead of being rude back. If I look back on my life, I would have spent my time doing something I love. Maybe that something would be cooking professionally. Who knows? This is what I have always dreamed to do and I, hopefully, will be able to get those experiences that I want. The beliefs that have influenced me are what my parents tell me, either directly or indirectly. They taught me how to survive and what I should do in certain situations that can sometimes be difficult. I would have pursued just being a kind person, honestly. Also, I would love to be supporting my friends through any issues we have. My life sentence would be: She supported her friends and motivated them to be the best they could be. This honestly is the one sentence that could describe me because I always want my friends to be successful in their lives, even if we are just high schoolers. In the future, I hope they can be as happy as possible, and I want to be a part of that happiness.
ReplyDeleteI love how you said you always will support your friends and want them to be successful, it tells a lot about how you are as a person. Being positive is always a great thing to have/do, even though it can be tricky sometimes. I really enjoyed your response, good job!
DeleteI love how you said you always will support your friends and want them to be successful, it tells a lot about how you are as a person. Being positive is always a great thing to have/do, even though it can be tricky sometimes. I really enjoyed your response, good job!
DeleteI am only 15 years old with a lot of life ahead of me. Asking what the keys to a meaningful life for myself makes me ponder very deeply. I have many directions and doors and paths to take before my life ends, but I do not think what college I go to, or what job I have, or any of the superficial things in life are as important as being a good person. The meaning of life for me is to bring positivity and emotion into the world, or even at least one person. When I die I would like people to say “She overcame her past and lead others to optimism with a welcoming smile”. Sure that may sound cheesy, but if I were to look back at my life I would have wanted to spend my time laughing, smiling, and sharing my ideas with others. I would want to see that I focused on bettering myself and others for the sake of the future. My mother, Shawni, has always been a person who has led me to be positive, along with some religion. Shawni, as herself, without the label mom or wife, is an amazing person with high morals, although she is human and makes mistakes. She taught me to be friendly with everyone, she always said that if I do not like someone that I should be friendly, but not their friend. Personally, I think that speaks about who she is as a person. As a 15 year old my goals are not too tough or challenging, I do pretty well in school, I am healthy, and I have supporting people around me. Although, I have one major goal that I want to achieve, and that is helping others with a tough past and teaching others how to be optimistic.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how you used the words "ponder very deeply", I think that it adds a lot to your paragraph and shows what kind of a student you are. I a lot really enjoyed how you included that your sentence was kind of cheesy. It added some humor.
DeleteI really enjoyed reading your response. The fact that you are bringing positivity to this world is great. I too would like to bring happiness and positivity to the world. I like how one of your keys is helping other people to become optimistic. That just shows how good of a person you are because you focus on others first before yourself. Good job Allie!
DeleteI really like your response! It's cool to see that when someone asks you what you want to do in life you don't go to the mainstream "I want to go to college" you go to the deep thinking aspect of it and say "I want to be a good person" It's also very awesome that you look up to your mom and inspire to be her. Overall nice job!
DeleteI enjoyed reading your response. I like how you only think of what is happening now then in the future. I also like how you kept your goal simple.
DeleteIf I were old, and sick, and had a deadline on my life, I would have wanted to look back on my life with no regrets. I want to be able to die and tell myself I lived my life to the fullest. I would have spent my time as if I only had one day left to live. I would want to live life to the fullest. I would have wanted to be fearless and not let anything stop me. If I wanted to do something I would have done it. I would have focused on myself and never let go of what I believed in. I think I would have connected with my friends and family a lot and spiritual beliefs. My guess is that when I’m older my family will be the most important part of my life and just having my friends and family around will bring me so much joy. When I’m gone I want people to be able to say she made us laugh even when we cried. I would have never given up on my dreams and I would have reached my goals. If I were old, and sick, and had a deadline on my life I would have wanted to live my live without a care in the world, not worry of what people thought about me, just like Morrie Schwartz.
ReplyDeleteI agree with living your life to the fullest. Knowing that you did all you could do in your life is really important. I also like how you said you want to be fearless. I think it is important to be fearless that way you wont miss out on anything. Your life sentence is really good and is really you. You have been a good of mine since i have lived in Ohio and you make me laugh even when i'm having a bad day!
DeleteIf I was looking back on my life at the end I would hope I wouldn't be sad that I didn't do something at that time. I would not want to have any regrets. I wouldn't want to have any regrets because you can't rewind time to do something different. Every decision you make in your life gives you the opportunity to create your own life. I would have focused on doing things that make ME happy. Why would you want to spend your life doing things you don't love? In my life family values influence me as a person a lot. My family supports me and want me to do what is best. I think that is the greatest value. My goal in life is to change someone's life for the better and make everyone around me happy. By the end of my life I hope I achieved that goal. My life sentence I wrote in class was: She never failed to put others happiness before her own.
ReplyDeleteMadison this is a good outlook on life. I like how you stated that "you can't rewind time to do something different" because it's important to understand that every decision can lead you down a certain path in life. So, it's essential to not withhold doing something that you may not have the opportunity to do again. Making yourself and others happy is a good goal in life.
DeleteMadison, I think this is a good way to think. I agree that you said you don't want to have regrets, because I wouldn't want to either. You saying you want to do things that make you happy and you want to change others lives in a positive way. This is a good way to live because if you don't do what makes you happy, then it is just a waste of your life!
DeleteI like how your over all goal in life is to be happy because I agree with you, there is nothing better than being happy with the people who are around you and love and care about you. I also like how you said you would want to be doing things that make you happy.
DeleteWhen my life is finished, I would hope that I could look back with a smile of satisfaction on the things that I did with my life. I want to have been a person in service to others, as helping and caring for another individual is an important faith value to me. I hope that I wouldn’t have wasted precious time on things that are meaningless, or waste the many privileges that are offered to my generation that past people struggled to obtain. Following the examples of family members, I would like to have lived a life of good intentions, words, deeds, works, and efforts. I hope that others’ lives that I have touched will have been positively impacted, and that I always listened, with respect, to what others had to say. Finding a true purpose or direction for my life would be a goal that I hope I would have attained. I want to have been willing to be spontaneous, and to live outside my comfort zone to be exposed to new experiences, people, and places. I don’t want to look back with any regrets on things that I neglected to try. Surrounding myself with family and friends, being kind and considerate to others, enjoying and discovering something new each day, and being truly thankful for all I had or was given, would give the greatest meaning to my life. My life sentance is to see potential in others, even if nobody else can notice anything special in them, and never judge others by their appearances or looks because they can become the most memorable and unique person you might ever meet.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, I hope to look back and smile and the good things i did in my life too. I also would want to put others first and help them. How are you going to help others? I really like your life sentence, about never judging others and finding the value in them.
DeleteIn my life I share the same goals as you. I want people to think I made an impact on their life. Even by just saying "hi" to them in the hallways. I want to get out of my comfort zone with others and try new things as well. In my lifetime I want to live life to the fullest and try everything I can.
DeleteI agree with you. I feel like everyone should be able to look back on their life and feel that they have done good. I also hope that I can impact people's lives like you mentioned. To make them feel a bit better about themselves.Good job.
DeleteThe key ideas in a meaningful life to me is to help others when they need help, and loving the moments you have in life. In my life I have learned to appreciate the memories that I have in my life. If I were to look back on my life before I die I would want to spend my time with my friends and family. When you spend time with the people that you love it shows all of the meaningful people in your life that you care about them. I would be more focused on seeing the ones that I love and care for because I care about my friends and family. The values that have influenced me have to do with spending time with all of the people I love and care for and all of the ideas they have taught me throughout my life. Some of the goals I would have pursued and achieved have to do with having a job and end up living my life with the people and love and care for. In my life when I achieved the goals it would show that I lived my life doing the thing that I love doing. By completing my goals I can end up doing things I love in life. Over all I have learned, helping others and loving the people around you has a large impact on your life.
ReplyDeleteI love how you added that you look at life by appreciating memories. I agree with your ideas because it is very important to spend your life doing things you enjoy and love. This was a really good response, good job!
DeleteI agree with you that one of the key main is helping others. It is so important to give back to the world when that gives back to you. I also think the people that teach you are very important to your future and can teach you the most important things in life.
DeleteIf I was looking back on my life at the end, I would have wanted to spend my time with the people I love and seeing the world. I would have focused on spending time with my family and becoming close with them. Having people who love you in life is very important because they can help you through good and bad things. Would you spend your life with the people you love? I would also like to travel the world. See many people and cultures. My belief in God has helped influence/shape my life. A goal that I would like to achieve by the end of my life is to help many people in need. I can help them in many ways. For example, volunteering, donating, and having a fundraiser. My life sentence I would want is, She put others before herself.
ReplyDeleteI like how you included some of the things that you would have wanted to look back on your life to. Like how you said you wanted to volunteer, donate, and have a fundraiser.
DeleteI love your life sentence, I feel like if we all lived by this the world would be such a better place. Since no one would do selfish acts or do anything to harm others. And I would spend a lot of lime with family cause that my number 1 priority in my life. No matter how sick I got I would never do anything to upset my family or cause them to get hurt.
DeleteI think the key to a meaningful life is to do what you want no matter what other people think of you and look forward to the future. If I were to look back at my life I think would try to not care what people thought of me. I would want to hang out more with my friends and family. I would try to do as many new things as I could. I would also have spent more time thinking about my future and what is to come. I would focus on concurring my fears. I would also focus on helping more people. I think my beliefs that helped me see the key to a meaningful life is that things happen for a reason, so you just gotta keep going. I think this helped me look past all the bad that has happened to an open future. I think a goal I would like to pursue is to have a story to tell. Make something out of nothing. I have achieved so many goals that I have forgotten. I would like one that I would never forget. I have seen, I have heard, and I would like to make something out of what I have learned.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though there are many keys to a meaningful life. I honestly feel as though I’m too young to fully understand what life is but I have a general idea that allows me to know there are key components to a meaningful life. The biggest key would be having a positive impact on others. When you help others prosper in life, and help them stay alive, that is a big key. The second key to a meaningful life is to be happy. You have to live life to the fullest and make sure along the way that you are having fun. Have fun with friends, have fun with family, and make all of your fun count. When I’m older and look back on my life I want people to say “Hey, her life was awesome. She helped others, she inspired her friends, and most of all she was happy.” I want to focus my time in life on working hard and have a powerful impact on others. Beliefs and values that would have influenced me is my parents and the friends I surround myself with. I want to surround myself with people who have positive ideas and positive values and beliefs. Goals that I would have wanted to achieve is putting a smile on everyone’s face and making a positive change in their life. In the end, my life sentence would be, “She saw galaxies in people when they couldn’t even realize they had stars in themselves.”
ReplyDeleteI really like how you see life as an opportunity to have fun and grow. I want to someday hopefully help as many people possible and I can tell you feel the same way. When I read your life sentence I thought it was really well developed and thoughtful with deep meaning.
DeleteOlivia, being a good person and trying to have a positive impact on those around you is a great goal for your life. When yourself and others are happy, life is more enjoyable and memorable. I like your life sentence concerning helping others find the best in themselves. Keeping yourself surrounded by positive people, who influence you to be a successful and caring person will give you a life that you will be proud to look back upon.
DeleteI feel the same way that we are very young to understand the meaning of life. Having a positive impact on others and being happy is the most important key in life. Knowing you, as my best friend you make the best impact with people and you are a happy person.
DeleteI like how you said you want to have a good impact on others and be happy at the same time. Doing that in life is a good way to live because your happiness is always the key thing.
DeleteI love how you said you would want to have a positive impact on others around you. My having a positive impact on the people around you they will enjoy being around you and want to be your friend.
DeleteI feel like there are few keys to life in my opinion. One of the main keys is you have to live a happy life. No matter what happens, you always have to keep a positive attitude. Another key is to not care what people say about you. Obviously except if there are saying something nice about you, but if they are saying something rude or mean about you, then you have to ignore it and not let it affect you. If I was to look back on life as of right now, I would be happy with how I loved my life. In the future, if I want to look back on my life, I want to be happy with my life. I want to have look back at my life as a successful man. The goals I want to focus on in the future is to have a family, get a dream job, and be successful. My life sentence is, a kind, outgoing man who had a great impact on everyone who knew him.
ReplyDeleteI like that you think the main key in life is happiness, and that you have too have a positive attitude. I for one know that your life sentence will be true because you always make my morning better in gym class
DeleteYou and Morrie both want to live a happy and not dread what you can't control. Morrie says a lot in the book to live your life how you want to and no one should care. Morrie is happy with how he lived and doesn't have many regrets. Morrie wanted to succeed in different ways but it's the same aspect.
DeleteI like that you don't care what people think about you it is one of your best traits. It causes you to be fun and outgoing all the time no matter who you are around. This is why we are such good friends cause I feel like I have this trait as well and whenever we are together people think we are loud and obnoxious but who cares. As long as we are having fun and enjoying life, it doesn't matter what people think about us!
DeleteI really enjoyed how you talked about when you look back on your life you want to remember that you loved yourself. That is a very important thing in life and lots of people do not learn to love themselves until they are much older and much more wise. I think it's also great you said you want to be remembered as someone who has a positive impact on others. By doing that you could really change someones life! Nice job Jake!
DeleteI liked how you said that you have to keep a positive attitude no matter what happens. I also like you say ignore all the rude and mean stuff.
DeleteThe key to a meaningful life to me is to live with positivity and to be nice to others. I am too young to know all the keys to a meaningful life, but being nice to others and having positivity is my key for right now. To look back on my life when I am older I would say I succeeded with many obstacles. I am very kind to others and try to make them as happy as I can. I try my hardest in school and sports. Most of my time right now is taken up by school. To have success in life you need to have ones around you who support you and your decisions. My main focus in life is to be happy and make others happy. My parents and friends influence me the most in life. They have high standards for me which makes me a better person. Right now the goals I have accomplished in life is making the soccer team and doing good in school. My overall goal in life is to go to college and have a loving family. (I was not here for the life sentence).
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the key to life is to be positive and being nice is a key to have in life. I think that we saw life in a similar way and we care about similar events in life such as grades and sports.
DeleteI agree with you that the key to life is to be positive and being nice is a key to have in life. I think that we saw life in a similar way and we care about similar events in life such as grades and sports.
ReplyDeleteThe keys to a meaningful life is to make an impact on people’s lives and to support and love my family. When I look back at the end of my life I would want to have made a positive impact in several people’s lives and say that I did everything I could do to help my family. I would have spent my time helping others and doing things with my family. My belief in God would impact my life a lot I feel that I would pray a lot more than normal to try and wish the best for everyone around me. I would like to achieve everything that I would want to do while making people around me happy. This brings me to my life sentence “ If you were around him he made you smile,” this is my sentence because I would like to be nice and make everyone around me feel good.
ReplyDeleteThis is very insightful John. We have a similar outlook on the way we want people to think about us and the keys to a meaningful life. I too would like to know that I made an impact on everyone I knew and that I supported my family in every way I could. Good job pal
DeleteIts really cool how you and Morrie connect because both of you guys want to have a positive impact on many people. You and Morrie both have high hopes on believing everything will be okay and just try and impact the world on your thoughts as much as possible. Your quote impacts the whole story on how everyone is impacted by Morrie.
DeleteThere are a few main keys to live a happy life,and to inspire others throughout your actions. My life sentence is "Inspire others by actions and words,help everyone be successful". I try to help others with what I believe is helpful like Morrie does. When you are in your death bed you don't wanna look back and have regrets. Like Morrie I want to understand everyone dies and it's my turn but I made a impact on others lives which will help people be happy. Being a good person is all a chain reaction,I hope to make others happy which will make me happy because that is the ultimate goal.
ReplyDelete