What's the Point?

"What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable."  John Green

I was reading a novel today and the characters were asking each other a hypothetical question to determine if their lives had meaning.  The question - what is the point of your existence?  They had a questionaire in the story that included reevaluating what you had done of consequence in the last 6 months.  I will tell you in the novel, the characters were struggling with this question throughout the book and it really got me thinking about my life as well.

What have I done of consequence in the last 6 months?  In my overall desire to change the world for the better, what have I actively done to further that goal and some of the smaller goals I have related to that?  So, I made a list because I needed to see it on paper.  

Sometimes when you are in the thick of your life, you may not see that something you did made a huge difference to someone - changing the course of a situation.  Definitely write it on paper.

"I look forward to being older, when what you look like becomes less and less an issue and what you ARE is the point."  Susan Sarandon

Think about all of the people you have helped - dropping off lunch for a friend in need, listening to someone who really needed a good listener, offering of your time and energy in any way to help others (and this includes all living things - not just humans), challenging something unjust, standing up for someone.  

It's small but it helps.  Today while sitting in an office, a small millipede plopped to the floor next to me.  So, naturally, I talked to it - told it it really shouldn't be indoors like that underfoot.  I scooped it up on a card and transported the little guy outside to a safer area.  To anyone it seems small, right?  A very small act.  But to the millipede - pretty sure his life mattered to him and saving him was a miracle!

Think about small acts.  Small acts change the course of history.  Small acts change a moment, a day, a year, a life.  EVERY single time you offer yourself to a greater cause, you change the world.  Ripples in a pond spreading wider and wider...

"If we fail to look after others when they need help, who will look after us?"  Buddha

And what do small acts, acts of consequence (to anyone and anything so don't imagine this is some HUGE billboard act sometimes), have to do with the point of your existence?  Research shows that people who dedicate themselves to helping others (human or other) are happier, more fulfilled, and lead long, enriched lives.  They are happier.  Simple.  

So what's the point?  You are the point.  The choices you make in offering of yourself to better the world around you - that is what makes your life have meaning.  This is your legacy.  Small acts that change the world in small ways spreading every wider and wider resulting in global change.   

Be the change...
Aprille