Is our life here spent for little more than to impress others?

The world is made up of two kinds of people; the followers, and the ones who blaze their own trail. Some people have the need to constantly please others, and some have the need to impress and be noticed.

I have always taken great pride in going my own way and not following along behind others. I am aloof from the ways of the world, and rarely bow to peer pressure. I am tough and proud of it. Well, except that in one of my recent rare brilliant mind flashes, it came to me that we are all striving to please others. We just have different ways of going about it.

Its true, some of us to seem to go our own way and make our own trails, but in the long run isn’t it mostly to please, impress, pay back, outdo, or amuse others? You have to think things through to a deep level to realize this. That’s why it took me so long to get it done. We work to live, but we work extra hard and long to have a nicer home, nicer car, money for frills and thrills; some of which we truly desire, but most because we think others will be impressed.

Try to think of how you would live if you was the only human left in this world. Nobody to impress, nobody to overcome, nobody to outdo, no jealousies, no desires other than to take good care of our own self and life. Hmmm I think we would live in a house that was easily taken care of, drive a car that was practical for our circumstances, and eat exactly the foods that we love most. A huge house would be impractical. We wouldn’t use the extra space so no need to have it to add to our cleaning duties.

My wife and I probably live closer to the practical no-nonsense kind of life that I am talking about than most people do. Still, we sometimes steer certain parts of our lives according to things that we think will impress, or at least not offend someone else. I guess that is just people trying to fit into society. Much better to fit into God’s scheme for us that the Bible states in this way; “Be no part of this world”. It seems impossible, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t be part of society, or that we have to ignore others. It means that God and his way comes first and foremost, and that we shouldn’t yield to the temptations of envy and jealousy that make us want to have more than our fellow man.