People seem to see it along the same lines on what is or is not meaningful. Almost all the people I've talked to say that family is a very meaningful part of life, one or two add that "human connection or being part of the larger community" is also something that is meaningful as well. When asked what made family, or friends so meaningful to them, a middle aged man said that it was because of everything that they have shared together and how they supported each other and just the love, which was along the same lines of 1/4th of the people I have asked had said. They found their lives to be pretty meaningful, people who were able to scale the meaning in their lives all said it was a 7-10 based on what they found was meaningful. The people who felt that they have fulfilled or already had what they thought was meaningful in their lives tended to think their lives were more meaningful. I thought this was interesting because one lady we met who was walking her dog said something that connected to this point. We had asked her whether she viewed her life as more meaningful than someone else's and she said that while happiness and security was meaningful to her life everyone needs different things to fulfill them and because of that it's up to them to determine. When viewed in this way meaning is something that is subjective because it is a personal matter.
2/8ths of the people interviewed mentioned goals as something they found as meaningful because it gave them a feeling of accomplishment and having goals and reaching those goals were rewarding. I thought about this and if meaning is viewed in goals, you would never be complete of have a “10” on the meaning scale because you are always striving to reach that goal, but once you’ve reached it your done, and you no longer have a goal because it is complete. I think goals are good, so if meaning were to be defined like this, a person must constantly make new goals for themselves to reach.
A small consensus of people found that catty people who judge other people were a meaningless part of life, because it was an unimportant aspect of life and getting caught up in "quintessential human drama" (Guy with bike) which is like the catty people comment since that is part of the "quintessential human drama". Another consensus of an equal amount came to the conclusion that money was meaningless because quote "it screws things up" (Guy on Ipod).
A pattern I noticed is that what makes someone happy is a part of what they think is meaningful. It is something that is ingrained in modern life, the pursuit of happiness, as well as in our constitution (John Adams). Closeness and happiness is something that people find meaningful, whether it is because of our culture or something else, family and friends seem to be a part of that equation.
Most of the people we asked seemed interested in our project and gave thoughtful answers in response to our questions. I think the wiser answers in these interviews came from people of age, and they seemed to be affected by how they were brought up. The middle aged man, who was dressed in a business suit and seemed to come from a well off family, said that he thought education as well as family was important when asked about what was meaningful in life he said it was. When we asked people if we thought they were wise the people in the twenties often replied no, because a majority of people think that wisdom comes from age and experiences. (Although a 7th grader we asked thought he was wise although he did not really know what wisdom was). But despite any differences of age or upbringing the way people thought about meaning were along the same lines.
"We determine meaning based on the function it serves in our lives" was an interesting and true comment on how we decide what is or is not meaningful I heard in class from one Andy Synder. The People I had interviewed..
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