Security

Security is a subject my thoughts often gravitate towards these days. Recently, I’ve been thinking about how the basis of my decision making is grounded in creating a sense of security – either for myself or for others. If something has the tendency to drive my decision-making, it’s something I want to try and get a better understanding of.

A sense of security at the individual level is, for me, a guarantee against the future. It’s a guarantee that I won’t need to worry about what my next meal is or how the rest of my life will turn out. I often think about how fortunate my life has been until now. How fortunate it is that I was brought up in an environment that has set me up for success, that has met my every want, and that has given me rich experiences and fond memories. This security has been something that my family has been able to provide for me. I was talking to my coworker today about people who attribute all their achievements to their own hard work. Thoughts like that have made little sense to me, simply because it ignores how big of a factor luck is to success. What scares me is that very fact; if one must rely on luck to obtain security, that introduces uncertainty into one’s ability to guarantee the needs of tomorrow.

Touching on it a little in the previous paragraph, a sense of security is not only something you can create on a personal level, but on a level with your relationship to others. The most obvious provider of security is your family, but to me it’s not the most important. I’ve always felt that maintaining long and stable friendships is much more important. It feels good to be able to have your friend’s back, and subsequently know that they’ve got you covered. With the current global situation, I seldom see my friends. To be frank, I’m not one to spend time talking to my friends online. But should my friends need help with anything, I always want to be there to offer whatever help I can give. It feels good to be able to contribute to the success of the people around you, to become a sense of security for those that you care about.

While I was talking to one of my friends, she mentioned how she learned to live more in the present during the past year. What this made me realize is that I’m the type of person who lives in the future. I’m not a time-traveler (or ESPer, or alien), but rather someone entangled by the infinite possibilities the future has to offer.