Why are you here?
We all come in to college with our own stories, backgrounds, and reasons for attending. But in a collective sense, we all participate in a common endeavor, a shared education. It’s this ideal sense of community that unites us as students, giving us a new prism through which to understand others and ourselves. We’re alone together, making our way as individuals—on our own for the first time—in a place full of them. In order to grow, in order to step out of the shadow of our families and our hometowns, we’ve all lifted up our roots and decided to plant them in the same ground. But that just answers why are you here at Northwestern? And that’s a fine place to start, but the question communicates more than that. What if what you really want to know is why are you here in the first place? Let’s rewind.
Your existence is nothing less than a winning lottery ticket of circumstance. Common parlance refers to the “miracle of birth”, even if not everyone agrees with the implication of a divine presence at its base. At the very least, your life—the fact that you are you and no one else—was an extremely fortunate and unlikely occurrence.
And so if each of us is, in a sense, the beneficiary of a cosmic game of chance, the next question, and the one that most of us are grappling with right now, concerns what to do with the proceeds. What will you make of what you’ve been given? What is your purpose? What are you here for?
college is the time for me to figure that out
though there are many ways of thinking about this question, “why am i here” makes me ask myself - “what is my purpose?” after talking about this question, i realized that i don’t know if there is one monumental reason that cohesively fits everything I have experienced in my life together to culminate in a grand purpose or sublime plan. i guess, i am here trying to answer this question because i am still figuring out how all these past experiences mold together and intertwine to fit some common theme or no theme at all.
The question why are you here can be answered in so many ways depending on what the “here” is determined to be. It’s also hard to answer with certainty. I think I’m here at Northwestern to expose myself to different concepts and to find what it is that I love to do, but how much of coming here was really my choice? It seems like the result of a series of choices I made (and that others made) that brought me here, intentionally or not. This leads me to the only way I feel comfortable answering this question. I’m here (at Northwestern, in the United States, in the library, on earth) because I am. No matter the universality of emotion and human behavior, all you can ever truly know is your own existence and consciousness. I don’t know why I’m here, but I know that I am and that all I can do is continue to try to answer the question of why I’m here one choice at a time.
To try and make here better
I believe I am here because this is where my life has led me. Each choice I have made, each road I have not taken, have all led me to the place I am now. I am now here to continue to make my life’s choices and hopefully carve myself out the best path possible.
the question of meaning and purpose frequently came up at the event on thursday. i think that some brief thoughts about memory and narrative might provide a fresh approach to these questions. we’re not characters in a novel, whose narrative is predetermined by the author. we make it up as we go along, which means that the idea of a fixed or singular purpose is too narrow to address the complexity of life. purpose and identity changes minute to minute. the best we can do is constantly question whether our actions and relation to the world is healthy or unhealthy, good or bad, and try and shift ourselves accordingly. it may seem vague, but i think anyone who is honest with themselves can answer it easily.
I do not believe that we all know why we are here, nor do I believe that we have to know. Is it really all that important that we know why? Isn’t it just as important that we are? Whether we are able to answer the question or not, we are all living this life, and we must sanctify our existence by continuing to find the ways that give it meaning, so that one day we may be able to find a cohesive answer.
In my opinion, this question has a lot to do with living in the moment versus looking long term. I feel that people who look long term are constantly struggling to find an answer. These are the individuals who believe that they have one purpose, and are desperately searching to expose it. Rather, those people who live in the moment-take life day by day, they are about the evolution of purpose. I realize that the question, “Why are we here?” is inextricably linked to purpose.
when i look simply at the question, why am i here? i automatically think, well, i am here because chance led to this thing called mankind. but when i read over the question, i think of it more as why am i HERE? basically, what makes it so that i am here in deering library or in my room. why am i at northwestern when i could be at university of hawaii. to that i answer, i am here, to know what it’s different from over there. we are constantly going to different places to experience different things to find ourselves, meanwhile we’re the same being the whole time.
It is tough to answer why we are here because our existence is so microscopic in the scope of everything. I think about how small I am on this planet, and how small this planet is in our galaxy, and then how small our galaxy is in the universe. Then I think that process shouldn’t stop there…are we living in just one universe out of a collection of universes? And how big then can existence be, how many other forms of life are there? Then the question of why we are here seems pretty insignificant.
Maybe it’s not so much “why are you here” as it is “what do you do now that you’re here”. You can’t do anything about the first question, but you can affect so much with the second.
for my kids…
When a visiting Emerson asked this question to Thoreau, jailed for protesting the Mexican American War by not paying his taxes, the reply was “Why are you NOT here?” We are here to make a stand, to say something, to matter.
I don’t think that there is a definitive purpose for my life; I think that it’s a journey rather than a destination. I suppose purpose and goals are all self created. Still, I think it’s essential to be able to look inside yourself and know who you are, to feel a connection with the center of your soul. I consider times of greatest happiness in my life- moments when I felt complete freedom from social pressures and worldly desires, when I had the feeling of transcending all worry. In this life we must postulate perfection, behold beauty, strain and see what’s real.
We may never know why we are here. But if we are indeed here, then we must do whatever it is that makes our existence a valuable one. Work hard to advance and balance your time to experience the simple innate pleasures we are cabable of enjoying.
I believe I am here to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and glorify and enjoy him forever!
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