The Good Life
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When determining what is a good life, there are many obvious things that come to mind that would be a part of a good life for anyone. Having an active, healthy existence, feeling safe and secure in your life, and being happy are the most likely answers to the question of a good life. Health is an essential part to a good life, as is security in your life, both physical and financial. A good life is defined by how an individual interprets the term happiness and what he focuses on in his life.
Happiness is a trivial term. Although the dictionary has a definition, happiness is an emotion which is similar to love, no matter how you define it, you cannot encompass all that the word means. Happiness is a matter of individual preference, what makes some people happy may not give the same effect to another. Personally, Disney animated movies make me feel like a child again because of the happiness they invoke whereas my best friend sees Disney movies as childish and useless and, therefore, does not get the same happiness as I do out of those kind of movies. The term “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” seems to fit well with happiness.
Some people would say that their life is good because it is one of purpose. Religion plays a large part in the interpretation of a good life. An example of a purpose driven life is the suicide bombers in the Muslim faith. The attacks on the World Trade Centers in Americans, or better yet Christians, eyes were in no way related to what they see as a good life. Although they Muslims had a purpose, we saw the attacks as a just that, attacks on our country. The Muslim community on the other hand, believed the attacks were courageous and brave, and the individuals who flew the planes would be greeted in Heaven by 47 virgins as a rewards for their acts. The difference in a Christian driven life is extremely different from that of a Muslim. Christians see their life as a means of helping others and repaying the Father for his sacrifice of his son for their sins. A good Christian life would consist of repenting, a baptism or confirmation depending on what sect of Christianity, and then living a righteous life until death whereupon one would go to Heaven. Whether or not one purpose is right or not, those who live a life of purpose would say they are living the good life.
Another focus of a good life to some would be a life of equality and fairness. A woman who works the hours of a job and produces the same revenue as a man does not make the same amount of money. A working woman would say that a good life would entail being paid equally as a man and not having to put up with the stigmas of the working environment, such as sexual harassment and blaming mistakes on a womans menstrual cycle.
Other groups of people who would say equality is essential to a good life would be African-Americans and homosexuals. America is built on the idea that all men are created equal and are entitled to same treatment as everyone but have been given the short end of the stick. African-Americans are still subject to racism and stigmas that they are unintelligent, useless and lazy. Even when there are individuals who have succeeded much further than many Caucasians in the business world, sports and entertainment, they are still forced to endure the criticisms of those who believe African-Americans are inferior. Homosexuals are similarly persecuted with stereotypes and “holier than thou” attitudes. America was founded on the idea of freedom for all as well as equality but in recent times that has been forgotten. Christians and religious people have condemned homosexuals for their choice of using their freedom to life as they are and have created laws to limit the freedom of the gay community. Laws prohibiting gay marriage certainly do not uphold the standards of equality set by the founding fathers. The fear that gay marriage is an attempt to corrupt the institution of conventional marriage and family is stemmed from stereotypes about gays. “Anyone who is gay has HIV/AIDS,” “gay people are sex fiends,” and “gay people deteriorate the American family” are the type of stereotypical slander that is continuing the persecution of homosexuals in American culture. I know that both African-Americans and homosexuals regard equality as a defining characteristic of a good life.
Some people spend their entire life involving themselves in the advancement of other people and