What is the meaning of life?

I remember being asked this question way back when I was just 14 years old. I had no answer back then, and 7 years later, I still don't really have an answer. Life... Do we actually know what life really is? Is it just that we were brought into this world by a loving act of two people? Or that we see the sun rise and fall everyday? Or that we go through the different stages of life - learning, studying, working, teaching, enjoying and then dying?

What is the meaning of life? I guess our objective would depend on the stage in our life that we're currently at, and our aim would be to prepare for our next stage. If we're in high school, it would be to determine what we're wanting to study at university. If we're at university, it would be to graduate and consider prospective jobs. If we're working, it would be to start saving for the future and consider the bigger picture - the ultimate job, a car, a house, a family.

Sure, we can have a pessimistic outlook on life... that we're always one step behind... What next after working life? There's the stage of starting a family and once they're independent, considering retirement... Then what? Choosing a coffin, a perfect plot in the cemetery and somewhere along the way, have your will prepared and then, just hope that you will die a good death. If you look at it that way, it all seems pretty pointless because it seems that life would be about survival.

Wouldn't it be better to be optimistic about life? To consider that progressive learning and education provides us with the tools that will give us the ultimate job, which will then give us the experience and satisfaction in applying the knowledge we have gained over the years. With that, we gain power to strive higher and achieve our dreams.

So then, a better way to look at it would be to think of life like a bank... how you can only take out what you put in. Therefore, I suppose, struggling to obtain what you want today, will enable a better life tomorrow. There's no point sitting around, waiting and hoping that your life will be filled with happiness, joy and satisfaction, when you're too scared to stand up and accept the challenge of it all.

Death is inevitable. It’s a promise made to each of us at birth. But before that promise is kept, we all hope that something will happen to us. Whether it’s the thrill of romance, the joy of raising a family or the anguish of great loss, we all hope to experience something that makes our life meaningful but the sad fact is, not all lives have meaning. Some people just spend their time on this planet just sitting on the side lines, waiting for something to happen to them before it’s too late.

- Mary Alice, Desperate Housewives

Don't be the person with the meaningless life. Strive for what is rightfully yours.