Meaning, Happiness, and Money

I would rank meaning being the highest of value.  What is worth living for if my life has no meaning?  There would be no point in my life.  Meaning is everything to me.  I desire to make others happy.  I'm always thinking about what others are thinking, and if they aren't happy I ponder on how I could possibly change that.  Don't get me wrong, I love to be happy too, but seeing others in my life I care about happy makes me happy.  If someone I'm close to isn't happy, I can't bring myself to be happy.  I'm that person that will cry just looking at someone else crying.  It's hurts me to see someone else hurting inside. 
Happiness is next.  Although happiness is very important to me, I strive to find meaning more.  Happiness makes everything better.  When I'm happy, it's as if nothing in this world can bring me down.  I'm on top of the world.  Without happiness, everyone would get depressed.  We need happiness to get through the hard times in life. 
Finally, I would rank money last.  We all love money, but we shouldn't desire it.  Wanting something we necessarily can't have can take away our happiness and make us bitter.  We should be thankful for what we have.  Meaning and happiness means more than money.  Why would I want all the money in the world over happiness.  Money really can't buy us happiness.  People without money learn to find meaning in their life and then learn to be happy without money.  Money isn't everything no matter how nice it sounds.
I know that I don't have a ton of money.  Therefore, I believe I learned to be happy without money.  I know that life is possible without a lot of money.  My dad's family has money, but we didn't get any of that money.  I can't have everything I want.  However, I don't care.   My life would be completely different.  I'm happy without it.  I learned to appreciate everything I have.

What I Have Learned This Semester

This semester I took Chemistry and learned it was hard. This may pursue me to change my major because studying to be a doctor involves a lot of chemistry.  I don't have too bad of a grade in there and even got an A on the first exam.  However, I had to work hard and study to get that A.  Once I get it I guess it's not too bad, but understanding it at first takes some time. This could be a good thing, though, because I was already considering a major change.  Perhaps this is my sign.

The major I was thinking about changing to is an engineer.  That will use a lot of science too, but not nearly as much as someone wanting to become a doctor.  Calculus 2 was hard for me this semester, but I got the hang of it.  I got an A+ on the last 2 exams.  A lot of math is involved in being an engineer, so maybe that is the path I should go.  I don't even mind math that much when I understand it.  I ended up learning a lot in calculus 2.  I learned stuff I should have even learned in calculus 1.  I took that in high school, though, so it wasn't as strict as a college class may be about math.  In calculus 2 I had to learn how to memorize the formulas for the test.  Our teacher didn't like to call it memorizing, though.  He said we needed to know the formulas to the point where we understood them.  If we just memorized them, we would soon forget them.  This was hard for me because my high school teacher let us put the formulas on an index card for the tests. So I guess I could also say I learned to know formulas and how to prove that they were true.

NFL Player Leaving

I think what he did was courageous.  He didn’t think about what everyone else was going to think of him before he did it.  He thought about his own happiness.  Not many people can do that. If he was getting injured, I think it was right that he left.  Money isn’t worth the pain he had to endure. 

I couldn’t really imagine anyone I know doing that, though.  No one in my family really has a job that they have to endure pain through.  My dad comes home unhappy from work sometimes, but he would never quit without the security of another job waiting for him. 

The only way I would leave a high paying job that I prepared my whole life for is if I was damaging my body upon no repair.  I probably might consider leaving if I came home consistently unhappy every day.  A job that really stressed me out might make me quit as well.  I rather be paid not as much for being happy than being paid a lot for being unhappy.

Overcoming Obstacles

When I think of obstacles in school two come to mind.  One of my obstacles is failing to study.  In high school I could go without studying and still get good grades.  So, I'm in that habit now.  College is a lot more work and has harder material than high school.  Compared to college, high school was a breeze for me.  I actually need to study for college to do well on my exams now.  It's hard for me to do, though.  Studying isn't particularly a fun pass time.  I get distracted and zone out when I start to study.
To overcome this, I'm going to try and study a little at a time.  I'm thinking a little reading everyday won't be so bad.  I mean, I can read over a hundred pages in a book I like in a day.  Reading 10 or 15 pages should be a piece of cake.  I have not brought myself to doing this yet, but I'm hoping I will soon learn.
The second obstacle is procrastination.  This is a big one.  I have always procrastinated in school.  In fact, I can remember being up until midnight in 5th grade doing my book report.  I thought I would break this habit upon coming to college, but I was wrong.  If anything, it has only got worse.  Last week I started my eight page paper the day it was due.  Fortunately I had done the research for it already and just had to write the paper out.  Procrastination has caused me to lose a lot of sleep over the years.
As for breaking this habit, I can only suggest I just quit.  I'm not sure how else I could break myself of the habit.  This is one I would surely love to quit, though.  I always tell myself I wouldn't have to stay up so late if I would just do it ahead of time, but the deadline creeps up on me quickly.  I think I have all the time in the world to do it, but in reality I don't.  It is very important that I overcome these two obstacles now that I am a college student.

Pre-college

     In my pre-college schooling, I can't really recall any bad teachers.  I never considered teachers bad if I didn't get what they were teaching.  I figured that I just didn't get the subject and needed more studying, and that's what I would do.Thinking back, I don't even remember considering any of my teachers excellent.  I just looked at school as learning.  I didn't judge a teacher on their teacher.  No matter what, I just paid attention and learned.
     As for teaching as a profession, I would never want to do it.  I don't know how teachers can teach the same stuff over and over again each year and not get bored with it.  Also, kids can sometimes be a pain.  I give kudos to teachers for dealing with all those kids they teach.
     If my friend was considering teaching as a job, I would tell her that she should pick a subject she really likes so she won't get bored with it.  Also, I would tell her that from what I have observed at school, kids like it when their teachers talks to them as if they were a teenager and understand as well.  All the popular teachers in my school distinguished by students were so well liked because they would talk to their kids and make them feel welcome.  They would sort of make class fun.  However, I don't remember learning much from these teachers, so iw ould recommend a mixture of the two.  Have fun with your kids, but also teach them the subject well while doing so.
    My fourth grade teacher had a teaching style like this.  I had so much fun in his class, but we still got work done.  I can still remember the fun times along with the learning times.  In fact, it was in his class that I grew to love math.  He taught us long division and challenged us by saying that at the end of the year a few of us could probably do a long division problem as long as the board with no problem.  I could have done it, I loved it so much.  If I considered any teacher excellent, it would be him.

Painkillers

I think the article is a debate between the FDA and the patient.  The FDA believes in putting restrictions on higher painkillers that can cause addiction.  However, the patient disagrees due to the fact that they would have to spend money and make a doctor's visit.
As for my opinion in this, I don't think it's such a bad idea to put some restrictions on painkillers.  So many people out there abuse pain medication.  Some even end in death.  Sure it would cost the patient more money and be a "burden" to them, but I don't think that's a valid argument.  A lot of people have insurance to cover the cost of medical care.  People shouldn't be getting all these painkillers if they no longer need them.  They are only harming them in their hands.  Painkillers can be addicting and for this reason, they are easy to sell off.  Kids are buying these pill not knowing the damage they are doing to their bodies.  They have many side effects and can cause overdoses if too many are taken. It's not going to hurt people to make a check up at the doctor after 3 months of being prescribed medicine.  I think they are only trying to help us with this restriction.  It's a valid argument on their part.
In doing this, I think drug abuse will really go down.  It probably won't go completely down, but it should be a place to start.  Eventually, I believe drug abuse numbers will get really low and maybe even become nonexistent.  The next generation could possibly never know what drug abuse is.  Well, maybe this  won't happen, but one can always dream.

College

     This article pretty much states the obvious.  Of course adults with a college degree are going to make more money than high school graduates or even someone without any diploma.  College gives us the education and experience to get a higher paying job than one who did not go to college and receive the education needed for that particular job.
      However, like the article said, I don't think college needs to be as expensive as it is.  I think colleges are taking for granted the fact that to get a good job or the job of your dreams, you most likely need a college degree.  They know that no matter what the price is, you're still going to pay for an education.  I believe there are many ways to cut the costs of higher education.
     Going back to higher education, I think too much education can be a bad thing.  There are people out there that have all kinds of masters degrees but still no job.  Why would companies pay for someone overqualified and expecting a lot of pay when they can get someone not as qualified and would take less pay just to have a job?  Higher education is important, but I don't think it's necessary to keep getting masters degrees until you are no longer unemployed.  I say get the degree you want and wait for a job to come.  More school means more money lost.  Graduating college with a degree is a big accomplishment.  Even if you don't get the job you want upon graduation, I think a job will come to you with time.  One could gain experience at a lower job until the degree they graduated with comes in handy for a higher paying job.  Patience is key.  With a small paying job to start off, though, you can start paying off your student loans and keep looking for that dream job.