Meaning of Life: DRAFT 2

I am riding on a coach bus back to the city of Buenos Aires after spending a week in Mendoza…two cities, 12 hours away within the same country, but completely different from one another. The bus is cold, and it seems to rain inside. They bring everyone coffee and offer breads…I say no thanks. The days before, the sun colored my cheeks and the dirt bit my fingers. The cold dried my skin but the sun cleaned it. I spent weeks in Buenos Aires (my city), before going to Mendoza. I saw friends and had nightlife. I am carefree and rude in the capital, is that meaningful to me? In Mendoza, I saw my family, part from my father. They immigrated from Bolivia looking for work in Argentina. Every afternoon spent with them I remember where I am from. They live by the mountains in a neighborhood police don’t enter. They have kids…A LOT of kids… all under the age of 4 that run around the house when the parents have to work. I see struggle but also a warm happiness in that family…my family. They invite me to food and mate because we are the same blood. They accept me knowing the culture I have grown in… one different and extreme from theirs. I am looking at the window reflecting on the past days. I still feel the love, soul, spirit and happiness while leaving this beautiful mountain city. I look up and see the mountains, Los Andes. In the sky there is a rip of light, of violet and red. It rips down the highest mountain. I want to go through it and see where it takes me but it will probably just drop me back in Buenos Aires to be rude and carefree.

This moment was meaningful to me. The meaning of life will change periodically. With growth it changes as well as with experiences. At this moment in my life the meaning of life is to discover, hear, see, feel, think, speak, love… the meaning is fighting, crying and experiencing. In Mendoza for example, I felt love in family and culture, with that, life felt meaningful to me. How is that? That feeling in the bus encourages me to keep discovering things about myself that I’ve hidden before…because of preoccupations with superficial bullshit. Things in myself that come from my background, the history of my land and fighting from the people. This gives meaning to my life, it gives me a purpose to keep walking, breathing, learning and reading. It pushes me to do something significant with my temporary existence. Meaningful to me means something that affects me on a personal level. The meaning of life is to make connections with people, share experiences, stories and culture.

At this point in my life, something meaningful to me is where my parents came from because I am just beginning to learn it. Friends, family and those I am meeting now on my path are influencing and teaching me things everyday; or every time I allow it. The people I meet on this path are most meaningful. The meaning of life right now is ultimately learning and figuring things out on my own. In a week, month or year my meaning of life will change. Right now it is the experience I build, the mistakes I make and loving these mistakes. Right now I feel a lot is meaningful in my life. At this moment, I can come up with several “meanings to life.” Learning my voice, and learning myself is a meaning to life, or a reason to keep going. In other words, this beautifully typical stage in my life is a meaning to life. It is why I am here… to discover and also to find how I can contribute to where I came from.