Other people’s views on the meaning of life: Draft 1 & 2

Draft 1:
When doing my own interviews, prior to the survey, I discovered that most people have never actually took the time out to think about the question, what is the meaning of life, no matter how old they were. For most it is really a hard question for people to answer. Even if they have thought about what they thought the meaning of life is, it’s hard for people to articulate their thoughts. Something else interesting is that if they had thought about it, no one had ever asked them.

One of the most common answers I received when I asked what is the meaning of life was to be happy. A different answer that my friend gave me was “ The meaning of life is to find peace within your self and have respect for everyone. To live in harmony with other people and to build relationships with everyone that you can. Inner peace equals outer peace.” I thought that this was an interesting view because it was one of the less selfish views on what the meaning of life is that I’ve heard. Even though she is talking about inner peace, the inner peace in the long run is so that people can live in harmony together. It is different then the more common answer of being happy which most people did not use to benefit others in the long run. Something funny about getting the answer of happiness was that when I asked the same people who said that was the meaning of life, they had a hard time answering that question. Some people just flat out said that they had no idea what happiness was but were still sticking with the answer.

Most people based on the interviews and surveys feel that they are happy. It seems that people have an easy time using that word even though they are not sure what the word means. The survey results from school were very interesting. I was surprised that 64% of the people in our school that were surveyed said yes to this question. It’s just that there is such a stereotype that teenagers are depressed lazy slugs that they should be answering like that. The reality is , is that most kids actually feel that they are really happy.

The patterns that I saw were the fact that people in general are so unsure about this question. So unsure about what the meaning of life is, what they’re here and living for. I find this so interesting because people just keep living without even knowing or thinking about what they’re doing here.

Draft 2:

When doing my own interviews, prior to the school surveys, I discovered that most people have never actually taken the time out to think about the question, “what is the meaning of life,” no matter how old they were. For most, it is really a hard question for people to answer. Even if they have thought about the ideas in their meaning of life, it is hard for people to articulate their thoughts on the subject. Something else interesting is that if they had thought about it, no one had ever asked them.

One of the most common answers I received when I asked “what is the meaning of life” was the answer, “to be happy”. Something funny about getting the answer of happiness was that when I asked the same people who said that was the meaning of life, they had a hard time answering that question. Some people just flat out said that they had no idea what happiness was but were still sticking with the answer that happiness is the most important aspect of the meaning of life. Others said that happiness was an emotion, therefore language does not permit you to put into word how an emotion feels. The only person who gave me something close to an answer to what is happiness was the person that said “happiness is an overall feeling of well being so that say, even if you don not feel well physically you still feel very well mentally.”

A different answer that my friend gave me was “ The meaning of life is to find peace within your self and have respect for everyone. To live in harmony with other people and to build relationships with everyone that you can. Inner peace equals outer peace.” I thought that this was an interesting view because it was one of the less selfish views on what the meaning of life is that I’ve heard. Even though she is talking about inner peace, the inner peace in the long run is so that people can live in harmony together. It is different then the more common answer of being happy which most people did not use to benefit others in the long run. Most people, based on the interviews and surveys that our class took feel that they are happy. It seems that people have an easy time using that word even though they are not sure what the word means. The survey results from school were very interesting. I was surprised that 64% of the people in our school that were surveyed said yes to this question. This was surprising because of stereotype that teenagers are depressed and usually hate life. The reality is, is that most kids actually feel that they are really happy.

Another really predominate answer that I got was that family was the meaning of life for a lot of people, adults and children alike. People feel that spending time with family and enjoying the time that we have is their meaning of life. In one interview that I conducted, my interviewee said that they would “be lost without my family. I wouldn’t really see the point in living if I didn’t have them to enjoy life with.” They also said that even though they have had an overall “tough” life, having family and the ones that they love around; a daughter, a son and grandsons etcetera, made it possible for them to go on. They know that they have responsibilities as a role model, and also responsibilities to provide for them, making sure that their life is as full as possible. Without having these others to watch grow, they said that they would not feel motivated to be here and have a steady “normal” lifestyle.

I feel that the most common answer of all is that as a whole, everyone I interviewed did not know what it was they were doing here. They could come up with an answer, but never really seemed sure of themselves. No one can say for sure what happens in the “afterlife” and it seemed like that was a big problem for people when answering this question. People realize that the two are closely entwined and since no one has ever been dead, then no one can say for sure that we are actually here for any “reward” (or punishment) in the end, or if this is just all we have and we should “live life to the fullest” In a casual discussion with my cousin about his religion he told me that what he was most looking forward to in his life and what was giving him meaning was Jesus Christ’s return to earth on judgment day so that way he would get to see if he would spend eternity with Jesus or not. This was the one person I could say that I have spoken with in my life that is completely sure where he is going to go after this life ends.

The pattern that I saw was people in general are so unsure about this question. So unsure about what the meaning of life is, what they’re here and living for. I find this so interesting because people just keep living without even knowing or thinking about what they’re actually doing here.

This affected how I see my meaning of life because it made me feel that it is ok not to be sure what it is. It confirmed what I originally thought, that someone, no matter what their age, could still be unsure. Doing this study also made me wonder about words and what they really mean. When a grown man tells me that happiness is their meaning of life and then can not give an answer to “what is happiness”, it makes me a little nervous. I just keep on learning that there are so many layers to this question that you have to dissect in order to have a clean cut answer that I do not know how someone can give a proper answer to the question that has so many meanings.