I'm Just Trying to Understand Why the F$%! We're Great

Grabbed your attention, didn’t I?

I know what you’re thinking...

“Take a chill pill, Connor. It’s not that serious.”

Look, I didn’t come up with that line. It’s a lyric from a song I’ve been thinking about a lot recently.

“I’m tryna understand why the f%$! we great...”

A lyric from Abhi the Nomad’s “Letter for God” (great song by the way. It’s got some really deep lyrics that will definitely get you thinking).

And with everything going on in the world right now, this line really stuck with me. Listen, I’m not going to go deep into philosophy or politics or the meaning of life right now (although if you want to discuss those deep and mind-bending topics, feel free to reach out. I always love those types of conversations).

It’s no secret things are a bit... crazy right now. War and violence and conflict between Russia and Ukraine have taken the center stage of everyone’s attention. And things like poverty and famine have been overshadowed – which sadly, they usually are.

And yet, just like the song lyrics suggest: We’re great.

Humans are incredible creatures. Whatever God is – whether you believe in a God or not – we’re here for a reason. We evolved this far in time for a reason.

You’re reading this, at this exact moment in time, for a reason.

But what’s the reason? Why are we great? How can we be great when we cause so much pain and suffering to one another? Even while we start wars and needlessly hurt one another? Even though we turn a blind eye to things happening on the other side of the world because it doesn’t affect us?

These are all just questions I’ve been asking myself recently. Trying to figure things out even though they’re unanswerable. Even though they’ll never be solved.

Look, I’m on the completely opposite side of the world from everything going on right now.

I wake up in a warm bed, with a roof over my head every morning. I go to sleep with a stomach full of food every night. I have loving family and friends that support me. I have access to clean water and electricity. I’ve got everything I need and I’m beyond grateful for all of it.

But just down the street in my own city, people are suffering. Not everyone is as fortunate to have the same gifts I do. People are scared for their lives on the other side of the world and people are scared for their lives closer to you than you realize.

I can’t begin to imagine what others go through on a daily basis or are going through right now. Because you don’t know what someone’s going through until you experience it for yourself.

I don’t know why bad things happen and no one ever will. But after a lot of thinking, I came to a conclusion (neither right nor wrong, just an opinion).

Even with all this pain and suffering. Even with all the violence and hatred and division in the world... we’re still great.

But why?

Because we have the power of choice.

For good or for bad, we can consciously choose to act. We can choose to love someone or hate someone. We can choose to start a war or seek peace. We can choose to change our lives for the better or for the worse.

I’m not trying to take away from anything going on right now. There are people suffering everywhere you look. There are terrible things that happen everyday leaving us asking ourselves “why?”

All I’m saying is we have the choice to act. We get to choose how we want to live, what we want to be, who we want to help.

And that’s what truly makes us great. That’s the thing that makes us so special.

Here’s the truth… you can’t control most things in life. But the one thing you can choose to control is yourself. How you act, how you react to situations, how you live your life.

It’s the same reason some of the happiest countries in the world are the happiest. Or why some people who’ve been through hell and back are still the most cheerful and optimistic you’ll ever meet.

Because they choose to feel that way. They choose how they react to situations. They realize life means so much more than dollar signs or trophies on a wall. It means more than the obstacles and successes you live through.

You have the ability to choose what life means to you and how you live it.

And the way I see it, that’s why we’re f%$!ing great.

Never stop dreaming,

Connor

P.S.

This email was mostly just a stream of consciousness and thinking about things in a different way, trying to connect current events to other ideas. I’m not saying there’s a right or wrong. You can agree or disagree with anything or everything I said. It doesn’t matter to me. That’s simply the power of choice ;)