Life Is More Than Just A Cereal

Life...hard to understand how it can be so simple; simple to understand how it can be so hard. We often envision life as a road, and like any other real road, some parts are nicely paved while other parts are filled with speed bumps, road blocks and detours. However, one thing you won't find on this "road" we call life...a shortcut. Though it is paved with paved with good intentions, these intentions are not so easily acquired. Life as we know it could very well be one of the simplest concept to grasp, but given our human nature we focus too much on understanding it that we allow it to complicate our own lives. I feel, and many of my friends will agree, that we must find the balance between both the simple and complex concepts of life while making sure that we do not treat one like other. Too many people aren't taking full advantage of what life has to offer. Precious time is wasted as they dwell on the negativity that had blinded them from the bright side of life.

"Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror"

I am able to say this as member of this very group. I've witnessed broken marriages, friends go and never come back, and even my own mother pass before my very own eyes. I've spent the last three years dwelling on these negative aspects like they happened yesterday. My thoughts became clouded with all the negativity and I was slowly becoming the type of person I was living my whole life to avoid. In mere minutes I went from a happy-go-lucky 20 year old to leaving it all behind....permanently. I became oblivious to the aspects of my life that brought joy into my life and kept me going all these years...my friends.

My friends have become the single largest asset of my life, without them I would die (and that's no longer a figure of speech). Friends play a key role in living your life to the fullest. However, one must be aware of the fine line between friend and acquaintance. Life is not the same as high school. Just because you are the most popular doesn't mean you have the most friends. Sure, everyone in the entire school knows who you are, you might have hung out a few times, whatever. Let me ask you this; out of those hundreds of people that follow you around campus, how many of them will be there when you reach your lowest point and you're looking for support? True friends will motivate you and see to it that you remain on the right path. It's easy for some one to tell you "Oh, I'll always be there for you. Call me anytime, I'll answer no matter how late it is.". How many of those people have actually answered their phone at 3 in morning? Now I'm not saying that even a true friend will answer their phone at the crack of dawn every time you call, and you can't expect them to. However, if they really cared, they'd call you back as soon they woke up. The cold hard truth is....(not all) people are fake. They will lie and deceive you just to add you to their growing list of "friends"; soon as you have a problem, they're nowhere to be found.
"Smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend,
Smiling faces show no traces of the evil that lurks within"

What Is Love?

No I'm not talking about the hit single from Haddaway. With Valentine's Day a mere 4 days away, I'd like to express my feelings as to what 'Love' really means to me, as well as some quotes I feel express what I'm trying to say. Now as someone who has never been in a relationship, I realize my views may not be the same as those of you who have such experience.

Love is that which can be felt and yet is intangible. It is expressed by every living creature here on Earth and is not limited to race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. Love is not about finding the perfect person, but seeing a person's imperfections perfectly. It's that feeling that causes you stay up all night thinking of that special person and when you finally fall asleep, you find that same person waiting in your dreams. Many people think love is caused by a single glance, or what we refer to as "Love as first sight". What you are feeling is not love, but what is known as lust. Yes, this exchange of eye contact may eventually develop into love, but to say that you can fall completely in love from this is, in my opinion, insane. Love is complicated, it's not something that you find, it's something that finds you. Much like a flower, you cannot rush the growth of love; you must take the time to allow it to fully bloom into something amazingly beautiful.

Love conquers all

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two." -St. Augustine