Life Is For Something
The poet Wendell Berry wrote, “The world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children.”
We sometimes think, “It's great that my ancestors worked hard to give me this beautiful life.” But gratitude alone misses something essential: your life is FOR something. It’s not just an inheritance to spend.
We don’t like this. It sounds like pressure! But when we forget that our actions shape the future, we degrade not only our planet, but life's sacredness. To be fully alive is to participate in the ongoing creation of the world.
I don't have kids of my own. When I was younger, I thought being child-free would grant me the freedom of an endless open road. But it doesn't work like that. A life devoted only to adventure or sense-pleasure reveals that the open road was always just a painted carnival backdrop: flat, impenetrable, leading nowhere.
These days, I try to remember that obligation is what makes freedom meaningful. I don't mean that I should exhaust myself working everyone else's shifts. Our greatest responsibility is for our own actions — our thoughts, words, and deeds — whose consequences someone else will inherit tomorrow.
And I pay attention to how I relate to younger people I pass in the course of a day. I smile at the screaming child on the train, hoping he’ll feel like less of an inconvenience. I listen to the kid singing in the park, even though he’s out of tune. And when I make mistakes, I try to apologize. Children aren’t just watching what we do right. They’re watching who we become when we get things wrong.
Life is for something. It's not up to me to tell you what for. I'm just here to remind you to ask the question.
As always, if you’d like to be held through your own process, reach out and we’ll set up a free coaching call.
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