In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved. Indeed, most of their vices are attempted short cuts to love. When a man comes to die, no matter what his talents and influence and genius, if he dies unloved his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror. It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings us no pleasure to the world.
We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the neverending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly
respawn, while good, while virtue,
is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh
young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is.
John
Steinbeck, East of
It is very much a universal feeling that everyone wants to be loved in some capacity or another, and in that same vein of thought, to be known as having a good soul. Maybe the shortcomings we see in one another are nothing more than attempts to attain these goals. Is there anything comparable to the feeling of being genuinely liked by other folks? And yes, everyone has a story to tell, because every individual is indeed unique. And we gather what we can from these stories because there is always something to be learned, and the good that comes from that is something to be cherished for life, because good is everlasting.
In many ways, I wish I could influence those with whom I interact in a way that will leave some sort of lingering memory of myself in their hearts. With some folks, it is inevitable that one will drift away from them, and in those instances, there are memories to be cherished, memories that are locked up inside never to be lost.
There are moments of helplessness – despair – and loneliness. In those instances we look to others to try to fill that inadequacy in our lives that we somehow are at a loss to fill on our own. In this sense, it becomes a journey to find completeness, because we alone are not complete beings. We give to others a piece of our souls in the hope we can do for others what they may do for us. Often times it seems that we just end up losing a valuable piece of ourselves in the process, and yet, we still carry on from day to day holding on to the hope one day we will be made whole again through those that form the circle of our existence.
Perhaps I think too deeply on matters, and I know I do so more than most others, and often times I think it leaves me in a place in life inhabited by only a select few…but in an attempt to try to reach those same goals as everyone else, this is my own feeble attempt to find my ‘short cut’.
*That’s by Me! J
Further Exploration Into Me and My Thoughts