Question and Answer # 2: The Purpose of… Me! (Part 1)

Here is question # 2 and my answer.  (Told you my readers are deep!  That’s awesome though!!). I ended up breaking it into two days worth of posts, so hang on for the ride.  🙂 — Nicole

Dear Loving Simple Moments,

              What is your purpose in life?

                                  Thanks, 

                                               Tien

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Not to be greedy or anything, but I’d like to think that I have two purposes in life. 🙂  There’s what I hope to accomplish throughout my years on earth; what I’d like to leave behind as my legacy.  And there’s my purpose for being on this ol’ earth in the first place. (Oh, yeah, I’m going there).  😉 

My Purpose in Life – The Difference I’d Like to Make

 I remember when I was a freshman in college and the September 11th terrorist attacks had just happened…  Every single newspaper and magazine article covered disaster.  What to do if a terrorist released anthrax in a major city.  How to stock up for survival.  The best way to seal windows and doors in case of a nuclear attack.  Reports of airports being closed, reserves being called to action, and stories of young military men and women sacrificing their lives for the safety of others.

I was horrified.  Felt so overwhelmed and sick every time I read the heartbreaking words, but it was impossible to ignore them.  Impossible not to read. It felt as though the entire world had been turned upside down and that there wasn’t anything good left.  There wasn’t one article covering a miracle baby that had been born or a middle-aged couple who could finally afford to go on their honeymoon.  Nothing about lost sisters reconnecting, special-needs dogs offering new possibilities for the disabled, or local teens lending a hand to the elderly in their town.  Nothing to bring a smile to my face.  Nothing that said, “There is hope. There is joy. Hold on.  Laugh again.  Smile.”

  These stories would have been too simple and were engulfed by the panic and horror.  But I remember throwing a Time magazine onto the floor of my dorm room and vowing that someday I would write those stories.  Because there is always good in the world.  There’s always a reason to smile.  To be proud.  To laugh.

That’s why I try to focus on the positive in this blog.  Even if it’s just here on Loving Simple Moments, I want to be a ray of sunshine that makes people smile.  A reminder that there can be a forgiving hug after a fight.  That a married couple can see the humor in each new situation thrown their way.  That we all struggle with weight, acceptance, and unforgiving recipes; but that’s no reason to give up.  To not laugh.  That life is about the simple moments that make us smile. 

When I was fourteen years old, I knew — without a shadow of a doubt — that I would be a writer someday.  And I took this revelation of sorts quite seriously.  I dreamed up a multitude of scenarios; which ranged from my being an international reporter who dodged bullets in a war zone to speech writer for the president himself.

What can I say?  My parents always encouraged me to think big.  🙂

But honestly, throughout the years, I’ve come to realize that journalism doesn’t hold the charm I once thought it would.  I love the personal stories.  The stories that make you wipe your eye, because they’re so touching.  That make you want to get up off your chair and go make a difference… right then and there.   Don’t get me wrong, we absolutely need journalists, because people want to know what’s going on in this world.  And I think that journalists have a specific talent needed to capture the facts — just the facts — and to present them in an unbiased way.  (Well, at least the good ones do).  😉  But the emotion that people are experiencing just happens to be my thing.  I’m captivated by the love, hurt, pain, joy, and every other feeling that we humans experience every day.  No matter our culture, background, sex, or age, we can all relate to that. 

Through my writing, I want to offer hope.  To inspire.  To encourage.  And oftentimes, just to offer a smile or a bit of laughter.  🙂

In terms of my writing, I still dream big… I’ve love to see an article of mine in a magazine someday.  Or maybe even a picture of me on the back of a book I’ve written.  Yeah, that’d be cool. And maybe this blog is just a stepping stone to my future writing career…  But if it isn’t and my writing never goes further than the posts of this site, I can say that I’m happy with it.  Because even if I just inspire, encourage, or bring a smile to the people around me, it’s enough.  Never underestimate what you’re doing!  You don’t always know who you’ve touched or whose life you’ve changed.  Sometimes, it’s the simplest of actions that make all the difference…

With that being said, any positive / happy stories that you want to share?  Maybe something that you heard about or experienced personally? 

And what difference do you want to make in this world?