Every person will have a different answer to your question. It will depend on where the person is from, the age, the education level, the personality traits, the parenting the person has experienced, and many other things. I am driven by having been born in the 1940's and a baby boomer, raised in a loving home with parents who did not divorce and they absolutey adored me but spanked my butt when I disobeyed and I'm not injured in any way from it. I was raised in Oklahoma in a country setting to very financially poor parents, a daddy who had returned from WW11, and I attended a small rural school. Then I attended a small state college to get my teaching degree. I had no clue until I went to college that I was poor, as everybody in my school was poor, but after I got to college, I knew how lucky I was to have been raised by 2 loving parents. Many of my peers there had not been. I knew right from wrong and was taught not to lie and if I found any money I tried to find the owner. Things were cheap when I grew up and I was taught to share. My parents taught me to be happy with what I had and not be jealous of others. Today I am happy with myself and I find that a lot of people seek my friendship as I am non-judgmental. I don't need fancy food but food that provides a balanced diet. I would like to travel but I don't have the extra money it takes so I live contentedly with knowing I'm doing the best I can. I don't worry about things I can't control and don't hold grudges. Life is too short to be angry and hurt my body systems and I follow most traffic laws. I also follow our societal laws, but if something doesn't seem totally right, I'm not afraid to be assertive and ask questions and legally challenge things. Sex is important to me when I'm married, when I'm not, it loses it's importance. The older one gets the more one sees what is important to him/her, and sex often doesn't rate as number 1 anymore. I realize health is important at every age, but I realize it more the older I get and am still healthy. Power is not important at all to me because I have healthy self-esteem. I have an undying thirst for knowledge and have recently gotten a new innovative college degree after I retired. I also enjoy challenges and I know there's not much I can't do if I set my mind to it. Life is the most important thing in the world, but I value the happiness I have in my life and I don't need to have someone telling me things that aren't true. I read right through conniving and manipulation and have no time for it. When I die, I want to have people to remember me by how many times I helped them, by my happy smiling face, and that I positively affected thousands of school kids and adults. I don't want them crying at my funeral; I want them telling happy stories about how I made them laugh and how I could get through any traumatic experience with grace. I also have many hobbies and I love to read. One can always learn about unknown things to enrich his/her world. And I love my 2 black labs and treat them as my children. Pets are helpless and must depend on us humans to take care of them. I love living!
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07-09-2006, 08:23 AM
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