A Measure of the Value of 'Life':

A Measure of the Value of 'Life':
and a personal understanding of how it's defined.

I would like to start off by saying that this will not be a "traditional" post that a lot of my readers (which seems to have grown exponentially in this last week - thank you) might have come to expect. I know a lot of you expect some prose akin to beatnik poets and philosophies on life that carry a bouquet of Kentucky Whiskey, but this isn't going to be one of those posts. Nowhere in here will you find cynicism of the world, or vulgarities of human behavior that inspire words of outcry. This is entirely different. This is a bit of a personal revelation, something I've come to understand about myself and the world I live in, that I would like to share. These moments don't happen often, but when they do, I know better than to ignore them.

I've always considered myself to be a very rich man, despite being a person of limited means. I've come to this conclusion based largely on the caliber of people I've been so fortunate to surround myself with, the quality of living to which I aspire -- and achieve -- but also, in arguably the most important way, by the measure and level of happiness that surrounds me. It seemed, at first, like such a small thing to be aware of, this ability to be happy, but I've noticed a disturbing trend as of late. I see less and less people in the world who are actually able to make such a claim and even fewer who seem to be telling the truth.

I couldn't help but wonder; Why? Is happiness such a difficult thing to find? Is it something that really requires such constant maintenance, like a lot of people would have you believe? I've never thought so. So what is it about happiness, which seems, to me, to be the real measure of value in life, that is so hard for everyone these days? Is it because it's attached to things? I didn't think so. I don't know many people who really attach happiness to material possessions, barring those of the sentimental nature of course. It was just that kind of thinking, those questions, and the sudden impact of sharing something with a particular (and very special) person, that prompted me to go outside, sit down in the rain, and cry for a minute.

I didn't cry because I was sad for all the people who weren't happy, or because it seemed so needlessly complicated to people. I didn't cry because I was sad, or frustrated. I cried because I understood something about myself that, really, I'd always known but never truly acknowledged: I'm a happy person. I'm not happy because of what happens to me in life, or because the world is turning. I'm not happy because of the death of a terrorist leader, or because of a person, place, or thing. Happiness is a choice and it's possible to make that choice without even thinking about it. Why? Because nobody needs to think about it.

What's to think about? We live in a beautiful world, we really do. Sure it's populated with; and this isn't meant to sound cynical so, please, bear with me for a moment, all manner of things that can inspire rage and sadness. Bad things do happen. They always will. People will come into your life, they will leave, & they will die. Catastrophes will happen, every day, all over the world. There's nothing we can do about these things. Nothing. Sure, they will stir sad feelings in us, they will incite anger, they will provoke feelings of a need for justice, for balance, and for karma, but does that make the whole world bad?

What about all the other things in the world? What about sunrises, laughter over steak dinners, the taste of a good beer on a warm evening in late Spring? What about the people you know, the family you've built? What about the sound of the ocean at night, gently lapping the shore, or that picturesque silence that comes with a heavy snow in winter? What about the feeling of wind on your face as you race down the freeway? What about the knowledge that, in every moment, you're alive to know you are? Why is it that these things, these moments, are so easily taken for granted?

Up until tonight, I always thought I'd given them their proper measure of respect. I lived in them, danced in them, reveled in all the things in life that, to me, made it great. Sure, I see a lot of things wrong in the world, but that doesn't make the sum total of it all bad. When I realized, all the sudden, that it was these moments and the people I'd shared them with that had made me, not only rich, but happy? I understood that I'd never really sat back to look at just how valuable they were to me. They are, and will always be, the lighthouse tended safely on the shore. I know, no matter how raw the seas get, how big the waves are, or how little energy I might feel like I have to keep swimming, that it will always be there -- silently encouraging me to keep going -- as if telling me that, if I can make it just a little bit further, life will be the best its ever been.

It will be better because we're alive to keep going -- and how bad can life, really be if that's the case? What of that first, morning, breath?  Isn't that a good enough reminder of how wonderful your day can be, no matter what happens? Whatever happened to you, before that very moment, you got through it. If you can be happy about that -- and why couldn't you be? -- then you've really figured out the difference between surviving life and living life. You've not only endured, but persevered. You've not only come and seen, but conquered everything that's come before. When you wake up in the morning, doesn't it seem you have a lot of reasons to be happy?

If you can start the day with that kind of thinking, there are some things I can promise you. Life will be brighter. Food will taste better. Air will be fresher. Everything you do will, somehow, be influenced by this decision to simply be. It was this understanding that really highlighted the real value of life. The ride isn't better because it's longer, it's not better because it's got more sights, or because it's faster. The ride is better because it's happy. Hold on to that, no matter where you go. Hold onto anything and anyone who can remind you of just what that feeling means, acknowledge and embrace those moments -- and, I promise you that you'll be rich beyond any measure.

Thank yourself for living. Thank those closest to you for sharing in it with you and never, ever, pass up a moment to experience all of those things in life.

Hic habitat felicitas - In vita; It's in every moment, waiting to be seen.