Existence will forever remain an enigma. All we can do is wonder about it while we try to make it from one day to the next. The above statement tells us quite bluntly that our purpose is not to float obliviously though like as empty shells, but to enrich ourselves with knowledge and understanding. In order to make our lives meaningful, we should examine our lives in relation to the lives of those around us. Socrates was a great man. He taught the people of his time so much, but never considered himself a teacher. His words meant so much because he spoke them humbly. It has been centuries since his death, but that one statement and many others will live on forever.
                     My dream seems so distant yet it is so attainable. When I grow up and finish university, I want to open a coffee shop. The idea of starting a business, to a person my age, sounds crazy. I’ll probably think differently as I grow older. Running a business can be compared to living an examined life. In both cases, you’ll have to go with your gut feeling, and learn from your mistakes as well as your triumphs to be successful.
                     I’ve come to a point in my life where I often  feel out of touch with my surroundings, having always been the type to be daydreaming about weird things and thinking about everything and nothing all at once. Lately, I’ve been pondering about the past, my present, the future, and how they’ll all come together and make sense one day.I’ve made a lot of mistakes, I’ll be the first to admit. The past has already been, it is carved in stone, it cannot be changed. However I believe that I have learned from it, so I can live the present knowing that I control my own destiny. I close my eyes, and I am twenty five years old. I open them again, and I’m still fifteen. The future is ten years away. Ten years from now seems like forever, but when I’ll have reached that point I’ll look back and it will have come and gone like the blink of an eye. I know who I am now, and I have a vague idea of where I’m going. Some mornings I would rather stay in bed, but I force myself to get up and go to school anyway because I learn something new each day that makes me a stronger person. The lessons that we have the opportunity to learn in everyday life are as valuable as physics and chemistry.
                     Sometimes I get jealous of those who float through life on a cloud. They look so blissful in their ignorance while all around them others live horrible lives and die horrible deaths. If I were faced with the choice to give up all I have suffered to learn for a piece of that bliss, I guess I would most likely turn it down. I wouldn’t want to live like that. Who am I to judge how other people live their lives? If I did, I’d just be assuming things. It just seems to me that many of us are followers... we "go with the flow"... I hate those words. You have no idea how many times that suggestion has been made to me, by my very own mother of all people. Since I was old enough to listen, she has been trying to impose her values and beliefs onto me. It didn’t really work. She gets frustrated whenever I disagree with her, which is pretty often. I know it is the parent’s duty to make sure their children are raised properly, but I also believe that children should be allowed to question their parents’ authority,  not going through life blindly accepting things that they feel are wrong.It saddens me to notice that many adults see the open minds and questioning nature of youth to be a form of rebellion.
                     Our lives start out as nothing until we make something of them. Each new dawn teaches us a new lesson to bring us to a higher level of being. Socrates philosophy was to question everything, question everyone -especially yourself- , and never be satisfied. Maybe then one day, we’ll have experienced enough to find our place in the universe and feel at one with our surroundings. Socrates teachings have been passed on for a long time. We probably don’t realize it, but the world today would have been different if it hadn’t been for that one man. Most importantly, he also taught us that one person can make a difference.