Thoughts on Life 2

I can’t help but wonder in my mind about a conundrum I have been pondering lately. Is it the bold, is it the meek? Is it the famous, or is it the ones living in obscurity? Or could it even be the affluent fellows perhaps, or conversely the destitute ones? Maybe the scientists, or maybe not. It could even be the Christians, no? Then maybe the atheists then. I’m not sure. It’s striking to me how many labels we now have, I could go on and on. But just hang on, I’m getting somewhere with this.

Early on in childhood we were taught to fit in with the group. Any group, it doesn’t necessarily matter which one. Just find a bunch of kids and try to create rapport by doing activities together so that you’re not alone; isolated. Maybe play marbles together, color together, skip ropes and many other stuff we used to do. So from the outset we derived our identities from our peer groups which we used to hang with most often. Fast forward to the present moment, as adults we still identify ourselves with the groups we choose to affiliate ourselves with. I’m 23, and I know full well about the desire for recognition as a deeply embedded human need for survival.

Considering the myriad labels we placed on our particular ‘tribe’ of people, it brings me back to my former conundrum. Just which of all the world’s multitudinous labels is the best fit? Which one will assure my happiness? Which one will ease my depressions, the one that has all the answers to my burning life questions? I really want to know which one is the coolest? The safest?

This is such a bothersome thing to tackle. Well maybe I should continue on with my Christian faith and identify myself as a believer. So that if I’m asked directly by anyone to present my personal portfolio I should commence my speech with, “Hello, I’m Bryan Ronie, a born-again Christian and I believe in Christ Jesus as my Lord and Savior.” This doesn’t make me uncool, does it? Well, I think God is cool. Even if the whole world defines cool as flashy, fashionable, wealthy, handsome/beautiful, etc. my cool is God.

Doesn’t matter if people don’t accept you for who you are, it takes courage to be yourself in a world of phony people. It takes courage to decide to define your own ‘cool’ so that you don’t bend your own personal philosophy. Because after all, if God is for you, who can be against you? A man can lose his sanity if he spends an extended amount of time in isolation. It isn’t reasonable though to compromise your values just to fit in with the crowd. Head on out and navigate the world by yourself, then you will attract the kinds of people that best reflect your core principles and beliefs.

Life is all about trial and error. Try out many things and eventually the Law of Averages will tilt the scale to your favor. The best thing about life is this though; that God is always watching.