The Most Important Thing in Life

As I was lying down to sleep, I started thinking about what I hope to instill in any posterity I may have down the road as the most important thing in life. Having two complete opposites for parents, I grew up with two completely different philosophies: my father's opinions were simple, yet empassioned. My mother's were complex, but honest. From my dad, I heard the importance of money and marriage. With no monney comes no life worth living. With a poor marriage, you set yourself and your children up for failure, potentially for several generations. From Mom, I learned the importance of independence. Her life has never been easy, and she has toiled and triumphed in each battle alone. She's a better person for it, and is self-reliant. She also taught me that you become your best self through doing what's right by people, family or otherwise, and by maintaining continuous integrity. I struggle to uphold each of those standards; I'm by far not the best version of myself yet. And while I believe in my heart those (at least some portion) ideas are important parts of life, I think I have a different idea on what's most important. My former religion literally DRILLED us with the importance of finding a mate and carrying out the holy design of breeding, but, call me what you will, I'd like to think my life and time here is worth more than how many human beings I carry and birth. So, when thinking hard about what truly makes life worth living, all I can come up with is: your mind. Your mind is what is so great about living here. There's such things as too rich, too independent, too romantic, too concilliatory. But there is no such thing as too intelligent. By building your knowledge and sharing what you know, you not only achieve those other qualities, but you're helping inspire others to build themselves up as well. It's uplifting and encouraging to see someone take pride in their thoughts and actions. It brings hope to the soul, to the world, and makes it better, and that, I believe is what is most important in this life.