Just because it is something that you want, does not mean its good for you.

I am a fan of searching for and passing on what I call pearls of wisdom.

I was taking to my sister about our ailing father, and how our sister was treating him. He is 68 years old, retired and all he wants is to be waited on hand and foot. he just wants to stay home and watch movies all day.

The first pearl of this story comes from my interpretation of 'Man's Search for Meaning' by Viktor E. Frankl. In this book he states that people thrive when they are in pursuit of a purpose, not when they are in pursuit of pleasure. There are two points in the book where it discusses retired workers that have nothing left to wake up for. he says you can watch them degenerate both physically and mentally, both times I was near to tears. I have seen it with my own eyes and know it to be true.

The second pearl, that I wish to share, is one that I like to stake some of my own claim in. As I looked back at moments in my life where I got what I wanted, I am normally met with moments that I regret living through. (Here I would like to introject to give my meaning of regret in this instance. I do not feel bad about my actions, I feel bad because I would not see the repercussions of the actions. People make mistakes, the only time the remain mistakes is when they go with out learning from them.) The fact of the matter is that, getting what you want has no barring on how good it is for you. If you give a child every toy that they want, it is likely that you will not have a house to shelter them, food to feed them, or clothes to cover them.

Happy New Year!!

-NK