I believe we all want our lives to have meaning. Those who know this also know we have to give it meaning, find a purpose and then figure out how to do that. It doesn't come automatically.

In younger years it's to advance a career, acquire stuff, start families, get new cars, that sort of thing. For introspective types that stops working as we approach middle age.

In later years we realize a house is to live in, not a measure of our value, a car is to get one from here to there and back. Bank accounts are what give us the freedom to be of use. Period. What is important is what we have done to assist our fellow man, relationships.

That's why parents of murdered children form support groups for other parents, why some people protest social injustice, other people oppose wars. That's why I'm involved with recovering addicts and alcoholics, and volunteer at the hospice.

Just to give my live some small measure of meaning, hoping someones life may be a bit easier because of the lessons I have learned, however imperfectly.

Some of us spend the last half of our lives making up for the first half. Each day is a privilege.