K i t s t a h for president

I read a really amazing quote on Bo's blog the other day. Although I don't remember the author, I remember the quote itself: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but the number of moments that take your breath away." Or something like that. I think that's true. If I had to choose, I'd take a short life full of meaning and purpose, filled with love and compassion, in which I help others and change the world for the better, rather than live until I'm 102, living a dull life in which I merely inhabit the Earth rather than expand and change it and help only myself.

In my life I want to change the world for the better. No person lasts forever, so why build a life that revolves around making yourself perfectly happy and content at all times? You're not going to be around forever to enjoy it. But the positive changes and ripples that you create in the lake of life could last forever, no matter how small they are. Helping other things is more important than helping yourself, because you could have been that person. You share the same emotions and life as that person or animal or tree or whatever it is, and you know what it's like to be down or impoverished or stricken or sad or in any way unfortunate -- you wouldn't like to feel that way. They don't want to feel that way. With any twist of fate you could have been born in a different place, and you could have been that Darfurian orphan, or that redwood that the paper companies are eyeing, or that homeless guy riding the NYC subway. If you were them, you'd want you to help you. So do.

Where will I be at the end of my life if I don't? I will have more money than I need because I did not donate; I will have too much energy that I did not devote use helping others; I will leave the world with only empty comfort, but not real happiness; a lot of my happiness comes from a sense of accomplishment.

I have many goals in life. Many invole helping people or animals or things or causes in a bunch of ways. I love art, but I don't think I would want to base my life around that -- I'd rather keep that as a hobby than a career. I want to do something a bit more meaningful with my life -- not that art isn't meaningful, but I'd rather go into writing or professional activism. Then again, I intend to have several careers...maybe artist can be one of them. In my life, I want to get writings of mine published and read and respected by the general public; I want to do some hands-on activism, like the Peace Corps or something like that; I want to take my talents that I enjoy, and then practice those things and hone them to as good as they can be so I can enjoy them and let others enjoy them. I want to live life to its fullest extent and enjoy life, and I know that I will only be able to fully enjoy life if I have left a positive mark on the world. My goal in life is to be a good person, a happy person, and a good friend.