As I've traveled around the world I've heard as many answers to this question as there are people that I've talked to. But mostly people say something like, "Survive as best you can, be as kind as you can, harm as little as you can and still survive!" This about sums it up.
My ex-wife had a bumper sticker that said, "Live Simply so that others can simply live!" I'm not sure many people actually do that even if they really get into that kind of thinking in College. As soon as one has kids one has a very rude awakening and finds that unless you do WHATEVER you can to support them from birth through whatever, they have no real hope of making it in the world.
My present philosophy is probably the first one I spoke of even though ideally I would prefer something like, " Be Kind Be Wise. All you need is love." But the pragmatism of actually surviving past college always takes one beyond that. I was speaking with a friend who is ten years younger than I and he said, "Most of the people I went to High School with are dead." Then he said, "Well. That's not exactly right. They are either dead or no longer functional." He is only 50.
What allowed me to survive to 60 years of age were the very things that scared the hell out of me in regard to my parents and Grandparents. I remember them saying to me, "Prepare for the worst but hope for the best!" So far, if you want to be alive past High School this is the best advice anyone has ever given me.
So I guess for me a good life would be one you can survive and be relatively happy along with your kids and friends and relatives past 80 years of age or more. What is a good life? A good life is great but you have to survive the one you ARE IN right now.
LIFE IS WHAT HAPPENS WHILE YOU ARE BUSY MAKING OTHER PLANS!
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