When a child hears that the UPIL, the Universal Purpose in Life™ says that we are to honor our parents and loved ones by the way we live our lives some may say: “But, my dad left us and never even tried to help. I don’t want to honor him!”. Or something like “But, my mom/dad was mean to me.” or “My mom/dad did such terrible things and I don’t want to honor him/her!”.So why would we do our best to honor our parents even if we don’t feel like they deserve to be honored? The answer is you do it to experience some of ‘the best things in life’ and to ‘live the good life’. You do it because that is your Purpose in Life.
But how can trying to honor them help me and what are ‘the best things in life’ anyway?
Well let’s look at the example of Barack Obama. His dad deserted him and his mother. Barack later found that his dad had multiple wives and kids, had been an alcoholic and wasted much of his potential of being a very bright man with great opportunities. What had he done to deserve to be honored?
The answer is he fathered Barack Obama. And he fathered other kids who also have the potential to be honorable people and who can also help to make the world a better place because they are here.
Your parents had you.
And although it may not be Barack’s main goal to honor his dad by the way he lives his life, he is doing that as well as honoring his Mother and Grandparents and his wife and kids by doing and being his best with his talents and opportunities.
True, most of us can never do all the wonderful things that Barack Obama has done or can do. He is so fortunate to be very bright and have good grandparents with money and good educations and a good lifestyle to help him.
But he is doing just what you can do.
Each of us honors our Creator and our parents and loved ones best by doing and being our best with what we have. All we need is to understand the ‘Talents’ and ‘Opportunities’ we really have and how we can fulfill our Purpose in Life while feeling that we truly are living ‘the life of our dreams’.
Jerry W. Willis