Pondering Birthdays
Ok so this is trite and cliche, but I have to do it.
I turn 22 on Monday, 3 years short of the 1/4 century mark. I've lived through four presedents, two of them Bushes, one major war and several "peace keeping" missions, the strangeness of the 80's, the boom of the 90's, and the dawn of a new millenium. I've seen my homeland attacked by terrorists, and recover from it more united and vocal than ever. I've been to the home of my Greatgrandmother, who left Ireland when she was 16 to make a new life for herself in America, and seen the very same places she grew up in, and the places here where she reached almost 100 years old.
What is my life so far been worth?
I've been a student of the world, learning from it as I travel and as I live my everyday life. But have i really contributed anything back to it yet? I would like to think there are those out there who think I have made their lives better in some small way, even if they don't know me. But nothing I have done yet has really been something I will be remembered for past my lifetime.
Will the things I dream of really come to be?
Will I be one of the first on Mars, following the dream of the Athena and her crew? Will I be one of the powerful, the influential, who will have some power, some force, in the world I live in now? Will I be remembered as a great philosopher, or a great writer, or even a great teacher?
Or will I simply be remembered by my grand children as I remember my Great Grandmother - a strong willed woman who lived a good life, loved a good man, and raised her children right?
Even if that last is the case, I will be happy with it. What you acomplish for history means very little if you do nothing for your own flesh and blood.
Though... I still would like to go to Mars.
Ok so this is trite and cliche, but I have to do it.
I turn 22 on Monday, 3 years short of the 1/4 century mark. I've lived through four presedents, two of them Bushes, one major war and several "peace keeping" missions, the strangeness of the 80's, the boom of the 90's, and the dawn of a new millenium. I've seen my homeland attacked by terrorists, and recover from it more united and vocal than ever. I've been to the home of my Greatgrandmother, who left Ireland when she was 16 to make a new life for herself in America, and seen the very same places she grew up in, and the places here where she reached almost 100 years old.
What is my life so far been worth?
I've been a student of the world, learning from it as I travel and as I live my everyday life. But have i really contributed anything back to it yet? I would like to think there are those out there who think I have made their lives better in some small way, even if they don't know me. But nothing I have done yet has really been something I will be remembered for past my lifetime.
Will the things I dream of really come to be?
Will I be one of the first on Mars, following the dream of the Athena and her crew? Will I be one of the powerful, the influential, who will have some power, some force, in the world I live in now? Will I be remembered as a great philosopher, or a great writer, or even a great teacher?
Or will I simply be remembered by my grand children as I remember my Great Grandmother - a strong willed woman who lived a good life, loved a good man, and raised her children right?
Even if that last is the case, I will be happy with it. What you acomplish for history means very little if you do nothing for your own flesh and blood.
Though... I still would like to go to Mars.
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