Random Act of Philosophy

   We are all looking for different things.  Sometimes those things are similar, sometimes they are not even close.  What we look for can say a lot about who we are and what we place importance in.  I am not talking about lost car keys or a new outfit, I am talking day to day aspirations.  What it is that we have as our long term goals.  Those little things we keep looking for that keep us going day to day.  Whether it be retirement, a place of our own, a family, or even just getting to the weekend for some down time.  Do your goals distract you from what you are doing, or do they focus you?  Do you look at each decision through the filter of how it affects your goal, or do you thrive on the hope that it will all be OK?  Sometimes it isn't the goals that define the person, it is how they are attained.  While a goal of a comfortable retirement with family is admirable, robbing banks to achieve that goal is not.  Do you step on others to attain your goal, or do you work with others and have them help lift you up to them?  Do you ride the wave of public opinion in the hopes that it is going your way, or are you willing to swim against the current to reach the shore?  Just as Lewis and Clark had to sometimes go against the stream and sometimes just ride the current, there is no one answer.  Sometimes you can catch the wave of prosperity and leap forward towards your goal and other times you are thrown against the rocks by an unexpected event.  Such is life.  If you bemoan what life gave you, you haven't found what it was you were meant to do with it yet.  In each set of circumstances, we find we can learn something from it if we look hard enough.  Pain is a great teacher though no one likes the lessons and it is through the hottest fires that the strongest steel is made.  Take heart in all you do and in every circumstance, because it is true that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  Now that I have used nearly every cliche in the book, have a great weekend and don't take things to serious.  God bless.