How Do People Live A Good And Meaningful Life? Draft

Introduction
People have different opinions on living a good and meaningful life. Some people’s views on what a good and meaningful life revolves around the media’s viewpoints and some revolve around what they personally think. Some people are fine with judging if other’s people’s lives are meaningful, and some are not. This paper is a combination of what people think makes their lives meaningful, and what our culture tells us makes our lives meaningful.

Second paragraph
I think that in order to live a good and meaningful life you need to enjoy life. I think that’s the most important thing. If you don’t enjoy your life, then you can’t make it meaningful. I think that what makes your life meaningful is your family and friends. If you have a great family and friends, then you will have a meaningful life. If you don’t have friends that would care for you, and help you out in any situation, then it is hard to live a good life. The people in your life make your life meaningful, because if you don’t have friends, you’re isolating yourself from the world, which makes your life less meaningless. You don’t have to be going out to parties with your friends or going crazy in order to have a meaningful life, all you need is people who you know will always be there for you. You need to have people who you have that special bond with, that trust that would never get destroyed. You also need to just have fun, and not care about the future too much. Don’t over think everything, instead let whatever happens, happen sometimes. In some cases, such as school, it is important to care about your future, because education also helps you live a good and meaningful life.

Third paragraph
I think that in living a meaningful life, you need to know what living a meaningful life is. As soon as you know what living a meaningful life is about, you can live a meaningful life. However, I do not think that you need someone else to tell you how to live a meaningful life. Each person has a separate definition of the terms “living a meaningful life”, and I think that they should all live by their own definitions of it. If you think that you have a meaningful life, then you do. I don’t believe that other people should tell you if you are living a meaningful life or not, because it is not their life, and they don’t have the right to tell you how meaningful your life is.

Fourth Paragraph
As part of the course, we went out into the streets of Manhattan and interviewed people on their opinions on living a good and meaningful life. Several people walked away from us when asked if they could answer some questions, but most stayed and talked to us. When asked what makes their lives meaningful, several people told us family and friends were the most meaningful parts of their lives, and without them, it would be hard to survive. One of the people i interviewed was my mother, and when asked what the most meaningful part of her life was, she said, “Family is the most meaningful part of my life because I love my kids, and without then I wouldn’t be able to live.” When i talked to the strangers on the street, an older male said “family is meaningful to him because he sees them every day and they are an important part of his life.”

Fifth Paragraph
When asked what makes a meaningful life, people named drama, catty people, and money, to name a few. One of the strangers, a female, said “catty people are meaningless, and so is nonsense drama that doesn’t mean anything.” A male stranger also agreed, saying “the most meaningless part is being caught up in unnecessary drama, and there is no point on focusing on it.” Another male said that you don't need money to live a meaningful life, stating “money messes up our system and we don’t need it to live a meaningful life.”

Sixth Paragraph
In today's society, there are a lot of opinions about living a meaningful life. People get their ideas about living meaningful life from corporate culture. Corporate culture is when a corporation is making money by selling you stuff that changes your lives (such as clothes, hair products, cars). It's also when someone is getting money for pouring information in your mind (such as magazines and books). Wherever we look, corporate culture is around us. Corporate culture comes up in our daily discussions with friends/family/teachers/etc. even if we do not realize it. One example of how corporate culture tell us how to live is when you look at a magazine, such as Vogue, People, and Glamour, you see ads for clothes and cars, and pictures of celebrities with their friends, family, special someone, or shopping. These magazines are telling us that in order to live a meaningful life, you must have nice clothes, money, love, friends and family. According to corporate culture, in order to live a meaningful life, you need to have materialistic things. One thing that corporate culture doesn't tell us about living a meaningful life is that you need to be religious. Corporations don't put out ads focusing on religion and God, and no one ever focuses campaigns based on religion. One reason for this might be because since there are so many religions, to just focus on one would hurt a campaign or ad. For example, if Apple made an ad about how jewish people use iPods, and every jewish person should own one, then that ad would only target jewish people, and other people of different religions might not want to be a iPod, because it is not targeting them. By targeting only one group of people, corporations are narrowing down their sales, and people won't buy their products as much.

Assigment Five-Analyzing Other People's Views On The Videos

This is for the video Lipgloss.

henry,
i like ur analysis of the video, because i wouldn't think that that is what the video is portraying. but after reading your analysis, i realize that what you are saying is correct. you dont know anything about Lil' Mama, accept the fact that she has pretty lipgloss and that makes everyone like her. good point =)
-Rachel

Andy,
i think that your analysis of the video was correct and elped change my mind of the meaning of the video. at first, i didn;t know exactly what the meaning was behind the video, btu after reading your analysis and evidence to back your analsis up, i realized that what you are syaing is correct. because Lil Mama has the lip gloss in her hand, she is cool and popular. nice analysis =)
-Rachel

Jace,
i agree with your analysis of the video. because she has lip gloss on, she is now cool. i like how you used the lyrics to back up your analysis, and ow you noticed that there are only good looking people in the video. i didn't notice that at first, btu after reading your analysis i realized that you were right.
-Rachel

Messages on the Good & Meaningful Life from Popular Culture

The video watched was All You Need Is Love by The Beatles

1.The song is saying that in order to have a good life, all you need is love. You just need to have someone who loves you, and who you love back. You don’t need to have materialistic things, such as designer clothes or huge houses, or a lot of money, all you need in life is love. It can be love from your family, friends, or someone special in your life.
2.The lyrics that speak to this perspective are
“All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.”
They speak to this perspective because they are summing up the whole idea of the song. Instead of making the song’s message complicated to understand, the line “all you need is love” is repeated throughout the whole song to help people understand that love is all you need to have a good life.
3.The images in this video support the theme of the song because in the video, the Beatles are surrounded by people who are most likely their family members, friends, or special people in their lives. There are also people walking around the room that the Beatles are in wearing signs that say something about love in them, which also is the point of the video.
4.Something interesting that I notice about this video is during the whole video, it only focuses on the Beatles and the people in this one room, and they are wearing the same outfits throughout the whole video. In most music videos, the singers change outfits in every different scene, or they’re moving around into different rooms. In this video, the people aren’t moving around into different rooms or changing outfits.

Assignment Four-Messages on the Good & Meaningful Life from Popular Culture

The video watched was All You Need Is Love by The Beatles

1.The song is saying that in order to have a good life, all you need is love. You just need to have someone who loves you, and who you love back. You don’t need to have materialistic things, such as designer clothes or huge houses, or a lot of money, all you need in life is love. It can be love from your family, friends, or someone special in your life.
2.The lyrics that speak to this perspective are
“All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.”
They speak to this perspective because they are summing up the whole idea of the song. Instead of making the song’s message complicated to understand, the line “all you need is love” is repeated throughout the whole song to help people understand that love is all you need to have a good life.
3.The images in this video support the theme of the song because in the video, the Beatles are surrounded by people who are most likely their family members, friends, or special people in their lives. There are also people walking around the room that the Beatles are in wearing signs that say something about love in them, which also is the point of the video.
4.Something interesting that I notice about this video is during the whole video, it only focuses on the Beatles and the people in this one room, and they are wearing the same outfits throughout the whole video. In most music videos, the singers change outfits in every different scene, or they’re moving around into different rooms. In this video, the people aren’t moving around into different rooms or changing outfits.

Assignment Three-What Do People Around You Say About Living Meaningfully?

I interviewed eleven people, my mother, my sister, and eleven strangers. This is what they said about living life meaningfully, what their definition of wisdom is, and if they think that they are wise.
Seven out of the eleven people I interviewed said that family was the most meaningful things in their lives. My mother, my eleven-year-old sister, five strangers I talked to on the street said that family is the most meaningful part of their life. My mother said, “Family is the most meaningful part of my life because I love my kids, and without then I wouldn’t be able to live.” Also agreeing with my mother, my sister said that family is the most meaningful part of her life because “I love and care for my family, and they do the same with me”. Five strangers also agreed two were older males; one was a lady walking her dog, and two students from school of the future (one seventh grader and who one graduated last year). One of the older males I interviewed said “family is meaningful to him because he sees them every day and they are an important part of his life.” The lady with the dog agreed that family is the most meaningful part of her life, and said that “I have a good family, and they are very meaningful to me.” Seven out of the eleven people I interviewed said that family was the most meaningful thing in their life.

Five out of the eleven people I interviewed also said, along with family, friends were one of the most meaningful things in the life. My mother, my sister, the lady walking the dog, and seventh grade student, and the student who graduated from school of the future last year said that friends were one of the most meaningful parts of their lives. My mother said that “friends are meaningful to me because they are always there for me and they help me out”, while my sister agreeing to what my mother said, added “friends are important because they love me and I love them and they’re always there for me.” The seventh grade student and my sister also said something in common, which is that friends are “people to hang out with” and “they’re always there for you.” The lady with the dog and my mother both agreed that they had “good friends, who were there when I need them the most.”

When asked what the definition of a meaningful life was, two people (Jace and a male stranger on the street) agreed that we make our lives meaningful. Jace said “we make things meaningful”, and the stranger on the street agreed with this statement by saying “we make our lives meaningful, it’s what we do and who we are around that make our lives meaningful.”

Two out of the eleven people I interviewed said that drama and catty/shallow people were a meaningless part of their life. The lady walking the dog said “catty people are meaningless, and so is nonsense drama that doesn’t mean anything.” A male stranger also agreed, saying “the most meaningless part is being caught up in unnecessary drama, and there is no point on focusing on it.” One thing that I thought was a really good point was when the student who graduated from school of the future last year said money was the most meaningless part of his life. He said “money messes up our system and we don’t need it to live a meaningful life.” I think that he made a good point.

Five out of the eleven people I interviewed said that wisdom is defined by the experiences you have, and the knowledge you have. One male stranger I interviewed said “wisdom is a combination of practical knowledge, experience, and intellectual knowledge.” Agreeing with this, the student who graduated from school of the future last year said “wisdom comes from experience, and the older you are, the wiser you are.” The lady walking the dog also agreed with wisdom being based on experience, and said “the more you experience, the more you gain, which makes you wiser.” One definition of wisdom I thought was really thought out and smart was when our school nurse said “wisdom is thinking before you make a reaction, or when you review what you do before you act on it.” I thought that was a really good point.

Five out of the eleven people I interviewed also said they weren’t wise yet, because the older you are, the wiser you get, while two out of the eleven people I interviewed said they were wise already. One of them was the seventh grade student, who said he was wise “because he was having fun in his life, but he didn’t know what the definition of wise was.” The other person, an older male stranger, said he thinks he’s wise because “he’s old, he has an education, his employment and jobs, and his interest in other people.”
In conclusion, the people I interviewed thought that family and friends were the most meaningful part of their life. They also thought that wisdom is defined by your knowledge and experience, and that the older you are, the wiser you are.