A question everyone asks of themselves and others.
Here is a quest to discover the answer. Here are my thoughts, but I ask you, do you find truth here, and what is your answer?
Is there an answer that is common for everyone, or is the answer unique to each?
When everyone first reflects on and then answers the question as it regards their current situation, it generates many unique answers. When asked to reflect on a larger picture, common themes emerge. The themes change slightly with age but focus on the individual. Children and students tend to describe their purpose, “to learn so they can be successful as an adult.” Adults describe their purpose, “to be successful so they can enjoy life. Retired people describe their purpose, “to survive and then to enjoy their remaining life.”
I wonder how people in different parts of the world answer the question. Let’s ask the question in Europe.
The themes here seem to be similar, but neither the children nor adults have as strong an expectation of success as do groups in the U.S. They are still focused on their attainment but see it as a struggle to maintain the status quo.
What about the less developed parts of the world?
The question now has generated a whole new set of answers. Children and students see their purpose “to help the family and to learn so they can make a growing contribution to the family.” Adults see their purpose, “to care for the older generation, to provide for, teach the children, and to improve the quality of life for the future. The older generation views their purpose as one of teaching, imparting wisdom, and providing continuity with past generations and traditions.
What if we could travel back in time to the America of 1900, Europe of 1000, or even the glory days of the Roman Empire?
I believe if we could ask the common people in each of those periods, we would get answers strikingly similar to the answers of the people in the less developed parts of the world today.
A change started in the U.S. during the 1940s and 1950s, by the 1980s, the focus of society had shifted from the family, community, and the future to the individual and the present. The shift has disrupted several generations and leaving many to ask if we are better off today then we were in previous generations.
We can analyze and discuss the possible causes of the change, but one thing is certain, we can never go back. We can argue whether the changes are good or bad, but they are neither, they are just a large change in a short period.
Now the question becomes; how do we adapt? Do we let the situation mold us, or do we take an active role in the change?
We can recognize that our roles today are vastly different and complain about what could have, should have, or would have. We can also take what we see as beneficial from the previous societies and adapt it to our lives today.
Maybe, then that is the real answer to the question, and it always has been. We can be victims of the whims of society, or we take charge of our life and act for positive change.
It’s our choice