Here is a quote from Crusader to MattHunt concerning his recent arrest:

quote:

Just ignore the naysayers out there, I know you're getting a lot of slack for actually doing something meaningful in actual, offline life.

That line got me thinking. What IS meaningful, and who determines it? And is there anything that you do in your real life that is meaningful to others that no one else would see as meaningful?

One of my classmates died a few months ago, and a girl made my entire class CDs to commemorate his life, help people grieve, and to help us remember that those who are gone, while not here in body, still remain in spirit.

It was a really nice gesture that no one outside of the class would understand. She didn't get a parade in her honor, and no one outside of our class really knows, but it's meaningful to us. It was a gesture of kindness to help us start to heal.

When it comes to grief, there are a lot of private and meaningful acts of kindness that unless you have dealt with them personally, don't mean a lot to others. No one who does these acts gets banners waving, saying: "GOOD JOB! YOU CHANGED THE WORLD TODAY!" though, to somebody, they did make a positive change in the world.

To do something meaningful all depends on perspective, so no one can classify one thing as meaningful and something else as not and have it be the set definition for the whole world. A lot of times, those things that seem stupid, inconsequential, not newsworthy are the things that are the most meaningful, the things that matter the most.

That's my two cents.

I don't believe a single factor determines what is meaningful because in order for something to hold meaning to you, it must be personal. It sort of reminds me of saying that goes something like "One persons trash is another persons treasure." Something meaningful could be determined by many different things, like an ideal, an anniversary, a fond memory, the heart, or even a small but genuine gesture. It doesn't necessarily have to change the world but maybe it can change one life.

The true measure of doing something meaningful is, in my mind, measured by how you change the world and the world's of others around you for the better.

Obviously being a martyr is meaningful or people wouldn't do it all the time. I for one, find it meaningful to accomplish your goals and your ambitions (be they for a cause or your personal life) quietly and without uproar. Uproar like what happened here with the protesting, not only creates waves and more people following in the original person's footprints, but it also distorts the truth by fanatics joining the cause and speaking louder than the ones full of sense. People are blinded by what they deem "neccesary" to accomplish what is right, when in reality, shouldn't the ends define the means, not come about in spite of them?