What Is Meaningful In Life?

Last week's column was titled "It's All About Perspective." So a few days after I wrote that column, I came across a comic strip that really emphasized that point. I always make sure I read the comics because not only can they amuse; they can also teach, as this one did for me.

In the strip "Pearls Before Swine," the character "Goat" introduced a friend (Bob), who had just won an Emmy for a television show, to the character "Rat." In the next panel, Rat said, "So he entertained a tiny fraction of the population in one country on a small planet in an insignificant solar system on a nondescript arm of an unremarkable galaxy in a universe of over 100 billion galaxies." In the last panel, Goat remarks that Bob is crying in the bathroom and Rat says, "Perspective is cruel."

Hope I didn't confuse anyone with all that, as I know it's hard to describe comic strips, but think about the moral of it -- we are not nearly as important as we would like to think we are. We've all heard the comparison of someone being a big fish in a little pond versus being a little fish in a big pond.

A lot of us (me included) sometimes get a little puffed up about how big a fish we think we are. But, if we stop for a minute and put things into perspective, then we aren't as important as we would like to think we are in the grand scheme of things. Now, please don't think I'm trying to run down individual achievements, but I think we need to make sure that we don't get too enamored with ourselves and what we have accomplished in life.

I have had my share of "good feel" moments in my lifetime and I have had some pretty good successes. As a member of the legislature, you are referred to as Representative or Senator or maybe as Mister Chairman if you are in charge of a committee. And, I have to admit that it makes you feel pretty important. But, if you don't put that into perspective, then you can get pretty "full of yourself."

I saw inflated egos in a whole lot of people who lost sight of who they really were and what they were elected to do -- represent the people of their districts. And some of them had a hard time after their time was up because they just weren't as "important" in the eyes of some people.

A good media friend of mine gave me a great compliment. He said, that I was the same person when I left Jefferson City as I was when I went there. I didn't ask, but I assumed that was a compliment and that he didn't think I was a jerk when I went there in the first place and didn't get any better.

I remember well a dear older lady told me when I was first elected that she didn't want me to go up there (Jefferson City) and get the big head. I told her that there were a lot of people around me that were willing to burst that bubble if it ever got too big. And, I think that I did stay true to the person I was then and the one that I am now.

All of this brings me back to perspective. I really think that the only truly meaningful things that we do in this life are what we do for others. Nothing else is of real substance.

I'm not trying to say that everything we do in life that is not helping others is wrong or meaningless. But, what we do to please ourselves doesn't have the same meaning that comes from doing for others.

I think that each of us needs to evaluate our motives and reasons for the things we do in life. Sometimes you can do the right thing for the wrong reason and sometimes the wrong thing for the right reason. And, from Albert Einstein, I like the quote, "What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right."

Many of us are Type A personalities and may be just a little competitive. As much as I like to win, life isn't always about winning. I sometimes have to be reminded that winning is not always a victory and losing is not always a defeat.

It is important in life to be productive and it's admirable to want to accomplish great things. But, at the end of the day, what is most important is what we have done to help someone else. That is the perspective we should have as we go through this journey called life.

Kevin Wilson is a former state representative who was born in Goodman and now lives in Neosho. Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Editorial on 02/15/2018