a thought

there are many people who believe that their personal safety is more important than anything else. they are concerned with death and are afraid of when the time comes. it's only natural to feel this way, however one reaches a point in their lives where they have seen enough of both life and death to understand that their really is no difference. at one point, we all must live- after that point we all must die. eventually all of our hard work will be dust, and our memories forgot. all in all, the man who dies at one hundred- has achieved nothing more than the baby who dies at a day old.

however while we are alive, it's my belief that we must have a purpose- a reason if you will. something that drives us. more often than not, as i note above- it's personal safety. i think that this pathetic, simply gross and worse than animal instinct. it's a learned instinct, a paradox.

my purpose, is to protect the ones i love from danger and harm- emotional or physical. those who lack the will to protect anything, often end up getting protected by someone better than themselves.

i often thought that every man is equal, that the indoctrination i received growing up was the truth. it's not. a man who does not care to defend himself or the things he cares about, is less. a vile creature, not deserved to be called a man. he only remains alive at the cost of others around him who are not as base as he.

(this post inspired by john stuart mill and marcus aurelius)