The Answer to the Un-Answerable Question

What is the meaning of life? How do you measure a life’s value? These questions seem so daunting, perhaps because we human beings have been trying to answer them since the beginning of our existence. If it took great minds like Ovid and Descartes years to answer these questions, how can we expect to come up with responses in a few days?
After getting over the initial intimidation of answering a seemingly answer-less question, I began my search for the truth. I’ve found that defining life’s meaning and measuring its value is quite personal; it is a matter of opinion and individual feeling. There is no all-mighty, magical answer that pertains to every person that has walked the earth. Essentially, we create our own meanings for life, and we determine the value of life based on our personal definition. Some religious people consider life a prelude to the afterlife; for them, a life of value is one spent striving to follow religious teachings. Others measure a life’s value in dollar signs; they might consider economical success the meaning of life. If we think of the world as the home of billions presently and of trillions past, it becomes a pretty impersonal place; at the end of our lives there is no earthly judge who determines one’s worth. We must personally consider the value of our lives based on what we feel life should mean, and how fervently we stuck to our values.
In order to feel like my life is fulfilled, there are a few things I must experience before my death (knock on wood.) First, I want to have a family. I am really blessed to have been born into a loving, deep-rooted family; I grew up with a blend of cultural values and religious morals that have increasingly guided me as I’ve gotten older. I want teach my children the same ethics my parents taught me. I want to pass on my beliefs, create legacy, a nurture someone else. I want to experience motherhood, the joys and trials of marriage, and the love of my own children. Families themselves are what have sustained humanity throughout the ages. They are the way human beings reproduce; they sustain nations, and cultures. Perhaps if I do as good a job raising my children, they’ll hope to start their own families as well.
Secondly, I hope that by the end of my life I have a greater understanding of other people. I am just one of the 6 billion human beings co-inhabiting the earth. This means that 5 million nine-hundred ninety nine thousand other people are experiencing the world differently than me. I want to travel the world and live amidst other cultures. I want to understand how other people live; I want to eat their food, listen to their music, and find out what they are proud of. Essentially, I want to find out what other parts of the world have to offer that I’m missing out on. I suppose curiosity of other cultures is what has shaped humanity and allowed it to take over the earth. In pre-historic times, groups of hominids’ interaction with other groups of hominids spawned tribes and nations. Cultural diffusion has made humanity stronger.
Along the lines of understanding and experiencing other cultures, I want to master another language. I don’t simply mean knowing another language conversationally, or taking a few courses of it in college. I want to become flawlessly fluent. From the limited amount of Greek I speak, I realize that communicating solely in another language forces one to think differently. Words from two different languages can translate the same, but feel different. Difference in languages is one of the biggest separations between countries and cultures. Perhaps there would be less conflict among human beings if everyone were able to communicate smoothly, and if everyone were willing to think like another culture thinks.
I am thankful for the amount of Greek I know, because I use it to communicate with my yiayia. She loves to recount stories of her childhood, stories of her parents’ childhoods, and even more distant stories that her parents told her. Someday, I want to write down all our family stories (or at least the ones my grandparents share at every family gathering.) My Greek ancestors lived through multiple Occupations, and struggled to make my life possible. They risked their lives to preserve our culture and our religion; thus, I feel obligated to honor them by preserving their memories. I think part of what makes human cultures so beautiful is that they are all full of stories from the past. I would love to add to the history of mankind, even if it is only a miniscule part.
Finally, I hope that by the end of my days I have learned to simplify my life. We make life so much more confusing and stressful with the amount of “stuff” we fill it with. We Americans have houses full of items we rarely use; our material possession become a main focus in our lives, and they distract us from matters such as family, and the fulfillment of our lives. If everyone would turn his attention towards his/her values and goals in life, perhaps the world would become a more peaceful place.