| I grew up in the south in the 1960's. Married when I was | | | | would be really nice to be able to soar like that. Then I |
| 18 and joined the Army when I was 23. I traveled to | | | | thought, do eagles look at us and wish they were like |
| Germany then back to the states where I lived in | | | | us?That is when something inside me clicked. It was |
| Connecticut for a while and then Tennessee for 10 | | | | more like an explosion or an awakening of sorts. The |
| years. I am now living in Maine.Of all the traveling I have | | | | meaning of life was so simple that I had looked right |
| done in my life I have heard people asking one | | | | past it thinking that it would be some big discovery of |
| question constantly. It doesn't matter if you are religious | | | | some sort. Some words of wisdom that would make |
| or not. We all want to know "What is the meaning of | | | | me look like a genius. |
| life?" I myself have asked that question a thousand | | | | Instead three words kept going through my brain. |
| times.Socrates and Plato and a thousand other deep | | | | Thundering as if God himself was speaking them |
| thinkers of their times have tried to define or explain | | | | directly into my thoughts.We spend our entire lives |
| the meaning of life. Each with his own perception and | | | | from the moment we take our first breath til our last |
| understanding and most times with a very complicated | | | | one is used up trying to be something we aren't. |
| explanation.It was not until I took up hiking in the | | | | Whether we are trying to get a job by seeming more |
| mountains of Tennessee that I had plenty of time to | | | | experienced or trying to win someones heart by |
| ponder the complexities of this age old question. Being | | | | becoming the person they are looking for. We act |
| a Christian I was raised to believe certain things and to | | | | differently in different situations. Why?It is in our nature I |
| look at life in certain ways. But as I got older and | | | | suppose or at least the nature of the flesh. But God's |
| began studying and searching for myself I began to | | | | nature is to be the same yesterday, today and |
| realize that what I was taught as a child was not as | | | | tomorrow. And since we are to strive to be more |
| complicated as some would have had me believe.I | | | | "God-like", which I used to think meant to try to be |
| always wondered why God would have put us here | | | | perfect, then the meaning of life is nothing more than |
| simply to suffer through this life. After all he does love | | | | to "JUST BE YOU!"Yep, it is just that simple. Be you no |
| us and of that I have no doubt. So why then? I studied | | | | matter what happens or where you are or who you |
| and pondered and reflected in deep thought just like | | | | are with or what you are trying to achieve. If you can |
| many have before me, and like them, to no avail.Then | | | | do this you will be something that the majority of |
| one day while hiking the Appalachian Trail in | | | | people will never be. Good, bad or indifferent you will |
| Tennessee I came to a clearing overlooking a valley. It | | | | just be you.John Dyer is the owner of: |
| was a clear day with the sun shining bright. As I looked | | | | thisonlinepage.comT.H.I.S stands for Truth Honesty |
| out across the valley I saw an eagle soaring on the | | | | Integrity Sincerity - something the author has found too |
| wind. And as usual the thought crossed my mind that it | | | | little of online. |