PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE
BY
Anaïse E. Ikama
As a child growing up, life was miserable, but I never give up on my dream
of not only becoming someone, also of changing my hometown one day. I grew
up in a country where life is barely survivable. Presence of diseases, poor
nutrition and lack of money in republic of Congo are factors that unable
Congolese from getting basic educations. Going to school is often viewed as a
special moment of one’s life. Not every child has that chance to go to school and
have an education. Fortunately for me, I was among those children whose parent
was financially stable enough to send their kids to school.
I have always fantasized myself of having a job that would not only make
people happy but also let them know how much they mean to society. As I got
older, I have noticed that my childhood dream will never be among majors as:
business, accounting, computer and more, rather become a teacher or a nurse.
Finally, I came to a conclusion that becoming a nurse one day will be special, in
a sense; nurses are teachers, care givers and not only would I be able to teach
my patients, family and significant other regarding human health, but also would
take care of them physically, emotionally and perhaps financially.
As I started planning my future, my first goal and priority was choosing a
college. Now that I am in the Licensed Practical Nursing Program, my next plans
are to first: earn a license as a licensed practical nurse on March of 2008, give
myself a whole month of vacation before setting on my hands on practice.
Secondly, I will work full time all summer and while working, searching for a fouryear college will be my next priority. Once admitted to a four-year college,
hopefully by fall of 2008, I will then transfer from a License Nurse to a bachelor in
applied science. Finally, subsequent to earning my bachelor, I will then
specialized as a pediatric nurse, but before that, with God’s help, I will love to get
married and start my own family (an extended family).
Philosophy “is an impartial approach to all problems and aspects of life and
existence, and its studies are not devoted merely to the empirical world, as in the case
of the physical and biological sciences; not restricted to the provinces of faith and
authority or to the questions of the other world, …not confined to investigation of
the mind and its behavior, as in psychology; … not concerned with the solution of
problems and techniques of adjusting and ordering and discovering the origin and
organization and development of human society, like economics and sociology; but
are adapted for an exhaustive treatment of the basic presuppositions of each and every
one of these, as also of what is other than and beyond all these, that on which all
these are ultimately founded and which is the ground of all knowledge and
experience in general…”(Swami Krishnananda).
Some people say and think that being physically attracted has more advantages
than having an unappealing appearance. However, I believe that physical beauty
come from the inside then gradually build to the outside. It is so sad when I heard
women choose their future husband by their physical appearance, color of the
skin or height. As a woman, today if I had to choose between two men: an
immature and unattractive model, and a caring man whose brain function totally
as Microsoft word- one can already predict my choice; bring me that ugly man
who will be devoted to me and our kids. I might have mentioned only physical
aspect of human beings, but there are other issues in the world that have been
misinterpreted just from a glance. Let not misjudge people, places, religions by
their physical appearance, rather let approach them with an open mind and we
will be amaze of how they will display their appreciation toward us.
Too much or too little money means more problems. I believe that having
a good financial statue is having enough finances to buy oneself a nice place to
enjoy life- not a ten-bedroom apartment, all one’s need is a house big enough to
have family and friends over. To be financially stable does not mean owning a
ten-bedroom apartment, expensive cars or clothes or having billions of dollars as
Donald Trump. As for me, all I want is for God to give me just enough money to
survive and change a part of the world.
It often feels impossible to find a right person who thinks you are good for
him or her, but when you are in a state where you assure yourself that he or she
is the one, spring roses will start turning into empty, dry plants. All of these
factors may contribute to the judging of other by their appearance. I believe that a
healthy relationship is based on: respect, trust, support, separate identities,
honesty and good communication. A couple or best friends have to value,
understand each other. Trust there is no way to have a relationship if you don’t
trust each other. I mean it is ok to be jealous, but Let keep our self-confidence
when your man or girl is talking to a coworker or classmate. You may have a
girlfriend of boyfriend who trusts you, however if that partner of yours is not there
with a napkin and shoulder to cry on or celebrate with you- that is definitely not a
healthy relationship.
What is mean by having a good family? Not everyone has a chance of
having or being surrounded by a healthy family. Some may say: I have parents,
siblings and cousins. But are you feeling loved or are you giving love to your
family? Having a healthy family does not necessarily mean having parents who
are financially stable, send you to private school, and buy you nice clothes. My
philosophy of life regarding family is to have parents and significant other who
care for you and love you for who you are. Healthy family includes parents,
siblings, cousins, aunts, uncle, grandparents and best friends. Which is one of
the reason I never refer to my best as “my best friend”; I rather refer to him or her
as sister or brother. Family spends time together; don’t forget each other special
date (birthday, graduation…) and has to be characterized by love.
I consider doing something you love and earning money from it as a
career. It is like being a nurse, not everyone is passionate enough to do this job
and as a matter of fact, some people have treated it as being one the toughest
field to enroll into for reasons being that it is competitive and time consuming.
Other will perceive it as one of the best way of earning money. Either way, I
viewed and consider, a best profession something or a place where one’s time
will be consumed by educating, sharing your knowledge with your surrounded.
Choosing a career has to be planned by considering every perception of one’s
life (like and dislike) because if you only want to work for the money, you can end
up starting from scratch, establishing new goals and priorities and perhaps
regretting for the rest of your life.
We all sometimes have felt insecure or not protected in our daily life, and
we all have different ways of coping or lifting up our spirit to be able to move on.
Spiritual factors include low self-esteem, love, stress, financial problems, death
etc. In a city like New York with different cultures, languages and English being
almost everyone’s second language can lead to low self-esteem. I remember my
first semester at LaGuardia as an ELS student; I used to starve myself to prevent
people from making fun of my accent. However with God’s spirit in me I start
seeing myself as God sees me. Not only having low self- esteem will remind you
of your spirit, also there is a factor as love, which most of us need. Unconditional
and unchanging love that often cannot be found in this world full of temptations,
but is consistently given by God, our only reliable source of unconditional love.
WORKED CITED
Swami Krishnananda. (1992, July 2).The Philosophy of Life. Retrieved May 29,
2007, from http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/phil_00.html