Search the Community

I just wanted everyone to know that I have reached that moment where you look at all your hard work and finally find yourself feeling that it was all worth it instead of having to tell yourself it WILL be all worth it eventually. I was on the bus and I just started thinking about my family and how I have, for the most part, dealt with them, and how excited I am to start my new family with the most amazing man on this entire planet! We've been together for 5 years and we are completely committed, and have such a great, loving, honest, compassionate, and nurturing relationship. He is actually the one that introduced me to FDR. And let me tell you, we were going down such a dangerous path because we let our parents and our pasts speak through us and dictate our actions and irrational behavior. And don't get me wrong, it was really tough going there for a while. But we both confronted our pasts, no matter how painful and uncomfortable and we talked, and still do. We have taken so many steps to rid our lives of people who aren't virtuous and moral. That includes family, friends, and basically everyone. We pretty much only have each other. We will continue to work everyday to make our lives together, and our future children's lives, better. I know better is pretty vague, but if we have such a great relationship right now, and strive to "better" ourselves everyday, by the time our children get here, I'm going to be a wonderful mother, and he will be a wonderful father. I couldn't think of a better father, husband, or friend than him. Anyways, I know this was really mushy and all that, but I just had to express how happy I am right now and how excited I am for the future.

"Even though I was only nine when my parents pulled me out of the school system, I can still remember my mom being in tears when some of her friends told her she was crazy and that it was a stupid idea. Looking back I am thankful she didn't cave to peer pressure." (Logan LaPlante) Description: "When 13 year-old Logan LaPlante grows up, he wants to be happy and healthy. He discusses how hacking his education is helping him achieve this goal." The video has 3.9 million views on YouTube and the number of views really took off this month.

I'm not fully versed in the history of philosophy, but as I understand it, Aristotle thought that all human action was a means to an end and that this end was individual happiness. First, is this true, and second, if it is true, then, if we say that, for instance, practicing parkour or any other physical activity makes us happy, then why is this the case? The individual is the one who can most authoritatively say what makes him or her happy, but if I state that executing a parkour move (as close as I can humanly come to executing it) perfectly, is an action which makes me happy in its execution, then why is this the case? Perhaps it is due entirely to the physical responses that we get from an action. For instance, orgasm feels good to virtually everyone for reasons that are reasonably well understood. Oddly, orgasm doesn't always make us happy, even though the execution of an orgasm makes us feel physically good. I could use more examples and perhaps site some research, but I think y'all get the idea - why do things which we say make us happy, make us happy?