The Value of Living

Monterrey Bay, California (Getty Images) FAIR USE: This image is not used for profit. This image is being used as a metaphorical device in relation to the subject of this post. This image has been heavily modified from its original form.

I remember during a sales meeting I was at about two years ago when I still sold cars, my general manager as a motivational tool discussed the concept of legacy. While he went on about how the success of oneself in the car business can tie to their own legacy, I rather write a blog post that is a whole hell of a lot more broad than that.

There's two view points in legacy -- the reflective point of view and then the observed point of view. The reflective point of view is self explanatory -- it's how you view your legacy and how you hope that others view your legacy. I would imagine that most of you want to have a positive legacy (in your judgment), that you did X, Y, and Z and everything in between. I will leave you to fill in the variables.

The observed point of view is also self explanatory -- its how others view your legacy. Others may see that you did X, Y, and Z and everything in between, either positively or negatively. They're going to be the ones that fill in those blanks.

Legacy is tied to what you value in living. While I did start off this post about legacy, legacy only inspired this post, because it is the concept of legacy that can skew someone's point of view about living. This post is about the value of living.

I'm a person that has been unemployed for nearly three months as a result to an acrimonious conclusion to my career in the automobile industry. I hopped from place to place, flaked out on job opportunities, and effectively ran myself out of the business. More or less I could say that I burned myself out, considering my care for, and consequently my success in, the business began a decline that never reversed itself starting in the late summer of 2010. I just recently acquired my life and health insurance license and I'm about to embark on a career in the insurance industry.

My family struggles financially. I'm not ashamed to say that: credit card debt crippled the household. It wasn't my family living beyond their means -- when the cost of living increases affected my grandparents, they turned to credit as alleviation. Unfortunately, it proved to be unsustainable and it snowballed. My mom, would suffer a hemorrhagic stroke that damaged her thalamus in 2010, does what she can with her disability (including still taking care of my grandparents with me acting in a predominantly relief role), but its still an unpleasant situation.

I think I can speak for just about anyone that would say that they rather have their life get easier as they get older than get harder. They do everything that they think they can do to prevent that, but it happens -- my grandparents and my mom have been affected by numerous health issues from strokes, to hypertension, to diabetes, or in my grandfather's case specifically, heart issues and a leg amputation. Needless to say, my house currently does not have the highest morale in the world.

Yet, through all of the shit that is going on, it made me reevaluate the value of living and the value of self, no matter how many times I'd elect to blow my brains out.

I'm not religious. I don't sit and pray to get through the day. That's not me. Nor is it really a criticism of religion or the religious. It's just not me. I'm not really a dreamer either.

Really, I only require three things to make me happy -- the ability to be creative and to act on it, my family, and to be myself.

I have all three. In August I completed Twenty Years, which remains my biggest artistic achievement. I still have the family that I grew up with. And, even with controversy, I'm still myself. It's the last thing that has grown on me, especially with the headaches of the past few years.

The value of living, the true good life, is not about how much materialistic possessions you can accumulate and retain. It's not about how much wealth you can accumulate and retain. It's not about how many people you can get to adore you. It's about day in and day out, you value and you appreciate yourself. I'm not talking about being a narcissist. I'm talking about that no matter what happens over the course of time, you never lose sight on who you are. It is you that's living, it is you that's breathing, and it is you that is making the most of an opportunity that you have been given to exist in this time and place, no matter who you want to give credit to.

I'm talking about not surrendering yourself for short term gain. You'll pay for it in the long run when you ask yourself what the hell happened to you. It's about fighting the good, smart fight when you're struggling; not fighting just for the sake of fighting -- you'll never prosper and when you think you are prospering, you're really not. I'm talking about looking in the mirror and not having to apologize to yourself for who you are, never mind having to apologize to anybody else.

To those that are struggling, keep in mind, fight smart and don't surrender yourself. It's not me trying to be motivating. It's me telling you the truth. Once you surrender yourself, any benefits that you think you may begin to reap are worthless because you will crumble under the house of cards upon the falsehood of self that you built. To those that are prospering, be proud and value your prosperity, but don't forget the fact that you are too, a human being. You're a part of this existence as much as the person that does not know when or where their next meal is going to come from.

I look at those that live in other countries, especially in the third world where the rule of day is poverty. In East Africa, men, women, and children struggle daily and fight for survival, not only out of necessity, but because they do value themselves and their own lives. It's a common theme amongst many that are poor -- while they lack a lot, they still have themselves, and its for themselves and for the ones that they care for is the reason that they keep pushing, even if they want to credit this belief system or that belief system.

Of course, there is the caveat to everything -- the human emotion. That's understandable and not everything I'm writing now is going to work for everyone because there are emotional and mental blocks that render a person defensive, and in cases, helpless. I'm not going to delve into total idealism, however, I will close with one thing.

This life that you live, no matter where you are or where you standing is what you make of it. It is whatever you buy into. It's whatever you accept or reject. Whatever it may be, value the fact that you live, breathe, and the fact that you even exist in this time and place of land and people period. That's what makes your legacy -- how much you truly embraced that.