Big paper Draft 3

Many times we ask ourselves "what makes my life meaningful?" and "what actually is a meaningful life?" or "why am I here?what keeps me living?" After asking myself these questions i realised that everyone has their own meaning and understanding of what a good and meaningful life is, it is different for us all. Mostly depending on the things we believ, or were taught to believe. In order to know what makes my life meaningful i ask myself, "what do i care about?" "what is very important to me?" The answer to these questions make my, and possibly anyone elses life meaningful.

Things such as friends and family are very meaningful. They help us, watch us during good and bad times, and they are there for us nomatter what. Good times or bad, they won't leave.These people are around us constantly, which makes it easier for them to mean something to us, we see them so much we grow to know them and see the great things in them. We relate to them. A meaningful life doesnt mean you have to have materialistic things, that is the least important thing in our lives. It is only a way to show people we are there, and we demand the "spotlight". A meaningfull ife should contain things that make you happy , not things that people, t.v or movies make you belive will make you happy,such as corporate culture.. The things around us affect our views of a meaningful and happy life in a very big way.

When other people were asked about what makes their lives meaningful many said the same things. Family and friends ruled their lives. When asked, a young lady replied:"My family and friends are what make me, if they don't like what I'm doing it will hurt me badly, making me feel like their not gonna be there for me....that would make my life meaningless."
This shows us how people cherish those around them. For some, family and friends are a necessity, like food and water, they need them. Another agreed andsaid: " My friends and family will always be there for me and will always want the best foe me, what else can make me happy ?" It seems as though many believe that if there's families and friends are there folr them , then they must be important. Being important to atleast someone makes peoples lives meaningful.

Another thing that many of the older people have said make their lives meaningful is being wise. Being wise as in having experienced many things and learning from them. My mother said " I consider myself wise when it comes to certain things,these things help me not make the same decision over." Failing makes their lives meaningless, but learning from these mistakes makes their lives meaningful. This is beacuse they know they are goin in the right path to sucess.

Pop culture affects what we think is a good and meaningful life. Corporate culture is the dominant culture out of the three types. It is anything that makes money with selling things that affect the media, as well as someone who makes money by puring things into oru minds. As stehanie said " We pay them to wear their logos."

The major messages we get from corporate cultures have to do with more outer than internal things. Money, power, popularity, looks,and fame are only a couple of things that are put out to make our lives "meaningful." Corporate culture tells us that good looks is one of the main things that makes us or break us. In movies such as "Hottie or Nottie" we see this message being put out. The "nottie" doesn't have a social life, a boyfriend or anything that " makes her life meaningful" all beacuse she is considered unattractive. Once she goes through a makeover and becomes "hot" she gets all the attention she wanted ,finds a guy and falls in love. Making her life, based on corporate culture, meaningful.

Money is also a idea thought to make one's life meaningful. In many shows,such as "Gossip Girl" the upper class group re the ones who have everything they need 2 become fully happy. They have enought money to buy anything they want and desire.

During class we analyzed videos about what they tell us about having good and meaningful lives. Such as Lil Mama and her song " Lipgloss. " The reason behind being happy is being popular.
In order to become popular, you need money, good looks and expensive things. Getting praised by not only your classmates but also your authorities makes your life good. The video stresses that materialistic things are the way to go. They make people envy you and want to be just like you. The more praise of this sort that you get ,the better your life is."I just I want to be apart of the cool crowd, I just feel like I don't have what it takes" Lil mama starts of the video with this line. She is talking about not having the look to be in the popular crowd. This causes her to feel like she isn't worth much, hence making her life meaningless.

We studied holiday in class as well. Most holidays in our culture are influenced on the many things that are said to make our lives meaningful, such as materialistic things. Holidays have turned into selfish occasions in which we think about what will make us look good in front of others based on our physical appearance and how expensive the gifts we gave /received were.

Folk culture unlike corporate culture, are things we are taught by those close to us. These are the things that the people around us want us to believe, mostly in school and family. We see folk culture being taught as early as kindergarden. The kids are being taught to share with others, to help each other out. We also see folk messages in school songs and rhymes. These silly rhymes without knowing teach us what others believe will make our life good and meaningful. Our families might be one of the dominant suppliers of folk messages. They teach us things that have been passed down from their families many years ago. Folk culture is this, things passed on o others from many years behind. Something that many people follow but do not profit from, such as corporate messages, which are used to make money.