“Life is not  
happening to you.  
Life is  
responding to you.” 
~ Unknown

We’ve all been asked the question, at one time or another, “Which came first — the chicken or the egg?” In most cases, this would be considered a rhetorical question, a brain-teaser for which no legitimate response would be expected. Not surprisingly, however, scientists have given serious consideration to the question. The Australian Academy of Science addressed the issue in the article Which came first: the chicken or the egg? If this is of interest to you, check out the link.

Honestly, most of us don’t care which came first. The question, however, might encourage us to look at other areas of life with a greater degree of curiosity.

Do I have friends because I’m outgoing, or am I outgoing because I have friends? Am I well-educated because of my affluence or am I affluent because of my excellent education? Am I humble because of my life experiences or have I experienced life the way I have because I’m humble?

One of the most basic questions we can ask ourselves is this: Am I happy because of the life I’ve lived or have I enjoyed the life I’ve lived because I’m happy? Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” This response is definitely good food for thought. 

Another timely question we might ask ourselves is this: Do I love others because they love me or do others love me because I love them? My Jesuit education tells me that the answer to this question is a definitive YES!

The quote at the top of this article, attributed to no one in particular, urges us to recognize that, for the most part, life is not something that happens to us. Life is, most often, a response to the decisions we make from day to day. It is likely, therefore, that how we experience life is a direct result of how we live our life. 

All the more reason to do good — so that we can live well.