Contemplating Life

Quotations have long served as an important source of inspiration for me. I selected this quotation and convinced my classmates to use it as our high school class motto for the yearbook when I was a senior in a tiny rural Indiana high school more than half a century ago. The other 12 students in the class couldn’t have cared less what we chose as our motto, but I cared a great deal. I wanted a motto that could serve as an inspiration for us, both at the time of graduation and for the rest of our lives. I doubt that any of the other students gave any further thought to those seven words, but they have served me well. Over the years, these words have reminded me that, as long as I am still alive, my ultimate destination is not yet determined and I can still have some control over the rest of life’s journey.

Most of us have very limited control over the circumstances under which our lives as adults are launched. Some of us are born into wealth while others are born into poverty. Some have loving and nurturing parents while others do not. Until we become of legal age, we have almost no power or authority, so we have little control over how our adult lives begin. However, once our lives are launched, I believe that we have a great deal of control over life’s journey and our ultimate destiny.

If our journey through life does not seem to be taking us toward any desirable destination, we can change course at almost any point. At the time I graduated from high school, I didn’t believe that college was an option for me because of financial barriers. Therefore, I worked in a factory for one year and farmed for the next four years. But I wasn’t satisfied with the direction my life was taking. When I finally discovered, five years after high school graduation, that college might indeed be a possibility for me, I entered college. After graduating from college, I decided to devote four more years to higher education and obtain my Ph.D. degree. This formal education opened up many doors for me, including the opportunity to write and publish books and other materials.

All of us can change directions from time to time throughout life, and we should do so if we are not satisfied with the destination toward which our present course seems to be taking us. We all know where our journey through life was launched, but the ultimate destination of life’s journey is not fixed in stone. We have a great deal of control over where we will ultimately anchor. Shouldn’t we focus more on where our lives seem to be headed and be willing to change course if we are not pleased with the apparent ultimate destination?

Think about it.

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Copyright 2025

Allen W. Smith