Life is what we make it

I am an optimist. I prefer to take a positive outlook toward people. I am the type of person who looks at half a glass of water and thinks it is half full rather than half empty.

I don’t know if optimists outnumber the pessimists in this world, but I do know that every step we take in life is a step toward change and hope for a better world.

We are all confronted with our own challenges and ordeals, whether it’s trying to conquer a fear of heights or confronting a fellow worker for stealing your work. We all face our own daily battles. The one thing we have in common is that all of us believe our personal problem is the single most significant dilemma in the entire universe. Why? It’s because we all exist in our own little worlds – although some have bigger worlds than others. The simple folk may have their own version of insurmountable fears, but when compared with the problems faced by, say, the president of the republic, their worries seem less relevant. Yet, the truth is, we were all put in this world for a specific purpose.

Our different roles make up the web of life. No matter how seemingly small some of our roles may be, what matters is how well we play these roles. It is more inspiring to see a janitor who works so hard not to leave a speckle of dust in the office he is cleaning and feeling a sense of pride and dignity in a job that provides for his family, than a lawyer trying to corrupt the system for the advantage of his client.

Playing our different roles righteously and justly is what should matter most, not simply being the best in our field. Besides, the word "best" should be redefined to include morality and correctness – aspects that are often conveniently left out as we measure people’s success by their wealth. The concept of success has been skewed in our minds because we have fallen prey to our own desire for material affluence.

Again, we go back to the question of roles that we play in society. All of us must first accept, then challenge the roles we are given at particular times in our lives. Only then can we carve our own path in this world. Of course, people will say: But life isn’t fair, that sometimes no matter what you do, you don’t come out victorious. Not all the tellers in a bank will become branch managers but that shouldn’t stop them from aspiring for that position.

It is a question of how good, bad or great we play the roles that have been handed us by mother nature. We cannot let ourselves fall prey to destiny alone, for destiny can be filled with great anguish and injustices if we let it.

Be that as it may, we also have to accept our own limits. How can there be a boss if there were no subordinates, how can there be a preacher if there were no people to preach to?

On the opposite side of the pole, there are people who are born to fortune and power. It is therefore their role to pass on some of their luck to the marginalized. As we play our specific roles, let us not lose track of our social responsibility. If we only open our eyes and see the painful and gruesome realities that the less fortunate have to live with, then we will see how clearly it is our role to contribute to the betterment of their lives.

It’s sad how some people can be so unmoved by the lives of those less fortunate. It may be attributed to their childhood environment, their education, exposure, religion, and other factors. Some of us have a great, inborn urge to relate to our social environs. Other people invest their whole lives in it, and find inner peace and genuine satisfaction in the process. These are the people whom I believe truly understand the meaning of life. These are the people who know that we exist on borrowed time. They are the heroes of our time.

Come the end of our own lives, the world will continue to carry on without us. The hands of time will continue to move. We are, after all, but mere parts in the web of life. The problem is, most of us today get so caught up in our own worlds, tending to forget that our existence is temporary and borrowed.

As we all wait and clamor for change, let us bow to our innate call to nurture the world. If we can all agree to start the change from within, even if it takes moving one grain of sand at a time, no dune would be big enough for us to overcome. To those that already live by this creed, may they live longer and their lives be blessed.

Hope is in the hearts of many who have nothing more in life to live by but the charity of others. They give us the best lesson in life: Life is not lived for one’s self alone.

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Editor’s note: Having "graduated" from Young Star, Dodot Jaworski and Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski will now write alternately every Sunday for their column, "Salt & Pepper."