Alex Brannon

9-7-10

1st Speech

The Meaning of Life

I am. I do. With two short and absurdly simple statements, I have given a meaning to life. Our meaning is decided by us every individual moment of our existence. I personally believe that our meaning is to glorify the God who created us and provided the earth we dwell on. However, I wanted to be able to philosophically prove that we all have meaning in life. The very concept of faith makes it illogical and unverifiable to all but the faithful. So I set out to construct a wholly logical defense of the existence of a meaning in living. For those of you in this room attempting to convince me of a gross lack of meaning in lifewhy are you even bothering? After all, according to your philosophy, there isnt any point. And yet youre doing it anyway. Youre here, in this room, enrolled in Lees-McRae because youve already chosen meaning over an empty existence. Thats my point. We decide our meaning of life (sometimes subconsciously even) every individual second we are alive. Will every one of those seconds and their respective meanings be a profound, life-altering one? Of course not, but who says every individual moment has to be a standout to contain meaning?

Alex Brannon

9-7-10

1st Speech

Professor Saylors asked us a question that, although short and simple, could spark unending debates (as evidenced by our practice paper.) His query was Is there a meaning to life? Yes or no. Rather than recalling all the important events and meaningful relationships Ive experienced, my mind almost automatically set about trying to prove the existence of meaning. The first thought that popped out was, Why waste time writing this if theres no point? So instead of trying to base the existence of the meaning of life on random and inconsistent events and experiences which, although full of meaning, are really never guaranteed to happen to everyone, I began to try and break it down into a view which provided meaning in every individual bit of a lifetime. Oftentimes when we think of the meaning of life, we automatically consider the impact of a person on the world around them. However, once you look past that, do you really think theres no other meaning in a life? Think of Thomas Edison and Adolf Hitler for example. Both left radically different legacies behind based on accomplishments they made during their lifetimes. The fact that one forever changed our lives for the better and the other came to be thought of as the human personification of evil is irrelevant. Do you think that Edison lived his

Alex Brannon

9-7-10

1st Speech

entire life in pursuit of the electric light? Did Hitler exist only to commit mass genocide? The obvious answer is no, but we often look past this when trying to analyze the meanings of life. What Im trying to say with this example is that you cant take one part of a life as meaningful without analyzing the rest. Its like an evangelist taking a bible verse out of context so that it better fits his needs. Once I had chosen how I would go about arguing a meaning of life, I tried to think through the theory from the standpoint of someone in opposition to it. Two immediate flaws jumped out at me. The first was the argument the argument that we are on this earth for no reason at all, so we might as well just live life to the fullest. That one didnt prove very difficult to get aroundafter all, to live your life to the fullest is itself a meaning of life. The second hiccup in my logic was suicide. Doesnt the reality of those who willingly take their own lives inherently defy the existence of meaning in life? Such a decision is often in hindsight discovered to be an effect of the feeling that one no longer has anything to live for and therefore no reason to live at all. Think about it though. No matter how desperate or even how wellprepared he or she is, no sane human being can end their own life without

Alex Brannon

9-7-10

1st Speech

experiencing at least some modicum of self-resistance. Regardless of how small and seemingly insignificant, it is there. Its the smallest and most basic, the molecule, of a meaning of life. When everything else is stripped away, this primal survival instinct will still always be there to give a final reason to live. It makes a bit more sense if you break it down. I personally dont think that any person, suicidal or not, has ever really lost all reason to live. I think they just overlook things and then leap before double checking. However lets say theoretically that we do have a person who really has had everything in his life stripped away and possesses no will to live does exist. This would mean that they no longer have any influencing factors on whether they live or die. Simply classifying them as human entails the presence of the built-in survival instinct. So if that last line between death and life is there and there are no other overriding factors present, the logical decision would be continuing to live, for no other reason than our bodies want to. Of course this survival isnt always our sole meaning of life. Its just the lowest extreme to prove that, even at rock bottom, there is still reason in our continuing lives. Following this class, my meaning in life for the next five or ten minutes will probably be something along the lines of how fast can I get back to

Alex Brannon

9-7-10

1st Speech

bed? Once Ive accomplished this, theres no reason my immediate meaning cant change to another trivial matter or goal. I know its not profound and not memorable. Nonetheless it is a reason to live and I believe it proves that, although we might not always recognize what it is at the moment, there is a meaning of life.