Giving ‘Meaning’ to My Life

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The extempore competition held on 27 January, 2011 was different from all other competitions I ever participated.It was because of the topic,that was bestowed upon me by my luck that day,”True meaning of life”. Before that day I never had a serious thought on the crucial question - ‘what is the true meaning or purpose of my life?’But now it required an answer and I had only 240 seconds to prepare my speech.I decided to say whatever that came to my mind and to my surprise,I ended up saying like this-“I don’t know what is the meaning of our life.But each of us have meaning and we bring it to life.I believe we all can give ‘Meaning’ to our lives by doing something that will make at-least few people remember us.And perhaps the best way is to help our fellow human beings,who struggle to lead their lives unlike us.I am grateful that I am not among the 4 million people who live under extreme poverty.I am not in the billion who entered the 21st century unable to read a book.I am not one of those children who die every year due to poverty,away from the conscience of the world.I am privileged and that’s why I want to dedicate my life to serve people;it makes me happy and gives me meaning and fulfillment.” I remember what I said because as soon as I finished my speech,I noted down most of the things I told in my diary.After that I spent about a week to really think deeply about it and determine my future course of life.It’s bizarre,how small events can have huge impact on our lives sometimes. Reflecting back on what led to truly finding myself,finding what I want to do to give my life a meaning,takes me back to my childhood.My father was an army officer and so my family had to frequently shift from one place to another.As a result,I went to... ... middle of paper ... ...tworking sites,but that wasn’t very fruitful.I felt more than any time else,the need to be in a recognized and respectable position,to have great impacts in the society,to change the world. I have no awards or recognition for my endeavor and I didn’t succeed to the extent I wanted to.But no academic distinction in the world match what I gained from my experience with “Educate Bangladesh Foundation”. I feel I have acquired the values and the burning desire to benefit others that will form the foundation for a great life.I also feel that foundation is not enough,I do not yet have the knowledge,sophistication,wisdom and recognition necessary to succeed as I want to contribute for poverty alleviation and empowering larger cross-section of people all over the world.My idol is Prof. Yunus,who by his revolutionary micro-credit idea,changed lives of many and empowered women.

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