Final Paper

Throughout the year we've been debating what is meaningful in life. As a class, we've interviewed people on the street, analyzed movies and songs, all in order to gain some sort of sense of what might be the meaning of life. At the beginning of the year, the majority of us all agreed upon a basic three things that are the most meaningful in life- friends, family, and happiness. I feel over the past year, I have developed a greater understanding of what is truly meaningful in the grand scheme of things, both due to our discussions in class and personal growth outside of the classroom.
When we were first asked about the meaning of life in the beginning of the year, we were still only considering it from where we were in relation to the real world. We were answering as high school students who spent all of our time in school preparing for a future we weren’t even very certain of. At that time, my biggest concerns were what party I would go to that weekend, what shirt I should buy later, and keeping my GPA high enough to get into the dream school I eventually got rejected from. When we each answered the question “What is meaningful?” we were only able to consider it from our typical high school point of view. Being in high school, it’s as if we’re sheltered from the rest of the world. Our biggest concerns are the drama that occurs in the hallways, rather than the real issues that we will eventually have to face. We thought the pain we may feel when we get rejected by a crush will be the worst pain we will ever feel. We forget that the rest of the world is capable of so much worse.
I’ve come to feel that, although I still feel friends and family are some of the most important things, that to truly understand our meaning in life, we have to understand our relation to the rest of the real world. We have to understand the impact we can have on others’ lives, without letting it interfere with our own personal happiness. We have to understand the cards we have been dealt, and be aware of the fact that some are dealt shittier hands than others, and that we may not know as much as we’d like to think we do.
Family is very important, I do believe that. But we need to come to a point where we don’t place our parents on pedestal. They are humans too, and they will not always make the right choices. Sometimes they will make decisions that will make it difficult for you to cope with important things in life, and if we can accept that, then maybe it won’t be as crippling when that time does come. Family is important because they are blood, but at the end of the day, they are people just like everyone else. They are capable of hurting someone just as bad as the rest of the world.
The same things go for friends. We will make many friends that are simply based on proximity. We get stuck in a high school with 100 other kids in our grade, and you’re going to end up with friends who you most likely won’t speak to in ten years. Each stage in our life is simply temporary, as are the people in it. I believe that the friends you make who manage to continue with you through every stage are the ones that bridge that gap from friend to a true family member. Someone you don’t force yourself to care for just because of your DNA. Those are the people who I feel are truly meaningful. People who you want the best for. People who you will accept, no matter what they do or the choices they make. These people matter.
But sometimes, you won’t have a lot of those people for a while. Sometimes you won’t be able to trust them like you wish you could. Those are times when you realize that you are the most meaningful part of life. You, yourself, are the meaning. You won’t always be happy with choices you make. You won’t always be happy with the cards you’ve been dealt, and thats when you need to make the choice to put yourself above all else and take care of yourself. You wont be able to go to those parties during the weekend because you think it might set you back in all the work you’ve been doing at your counselor. You won’t go shopping to buy those new shirts because you want to save your money to help your mom pay for college. And although your GPA didn’t stay as high as it should’ve in order to get into the school of your dreams, you’ll find that there’s and even more perfect path for you somewhere else. You’ll realize that you are most important. The drama in school no longer matters. The things they call you when you walk past them in the hall won’t matter. The rumors they spread or the variations of “slut” they use in comments on Facebook wont matter. The world of high school won’t matter. What will matter is where you go after school. Where you go to take care of things that happened a long time ago. It’s where you go to make yourself better that matters, and those that are willing to help you along the way.
Theres a bigger world outside of these classrooms. It just takes us some time to realize it. And we need to understand where we are in it, and learn to be okay with that. There will be a lot that matters a long the way, and a lot that simply doesn’t. But at the end of the day, we are the most important. We are what matter. We are the meaning.