This is one of my Philosophy Class Paper, written and submitted March 24, 2009:

We can’t predict what will happen to us in the next hour, not even the next few seconds. I can’t even predict what letter I’m going to type next since I don’t know what comes in my mind for the next seconds. I would just know what I’m going to type when I’m already typing the word. I don’t know if I will graduate next year, but I should be. I don’t know if I will become successful in the next few years or I’m going to be married anytime soon. But what I can be sure of is that I know that I can do something to make my future bright. William James pointed out the theory of freedom and the will to believe in how to assess if you will have a bright future or not.

I haven’t reached a quarter of my life, I haven’t graduated college and there’s life ahead of me. Since I was a kid, I knew from the very start that I’m going to work for TV. I’ve been living 2 years of my life anticipating the day that I would be able to apply for my dream job in the biggest TV station in the Philippines. Every one knows that change is the most inevitable thing in the world. One day, I had to make a decision and I left the road that would lead me to my dream. I thought my future would be bleak then. I moved to a different path and realized that I myself would make my journey through the new path worthwhile. I’m the one living this life, so I’m the one who’s supposed to be happy with the path I took. I am the one who should put meaning to it. I have to act and find my own way of putting meaning to it, in order for me to be happy. Whatever happened to me has a purpose. Honestly, for the past 2 years, there would always come a time when I am regretting my decision. But then again, I have always believed that there’s always a reason behind this. One day at a time, I’ve been realizing the impact of this decision in my life, the meaning of my life, why am I in this world. For James, there is no absolute truth. Truth is relative and can change. I certainly agree with it. Before, what I believe in is way different from where I am now. Change is really inevitable. You can’t say that things won’t happen, because you wouldn’t really know what will happen. In every decision we make there could always be options, changes. As I’ve said, everything happens for a reason. And whatever’s happening, happened the way it should be. I shifted to Entrepreneurship because that’s the way it should be, that’s what it’s written in my book of life. If we are determined, and everything happened the way it should happen, meaning, everything are positive- decisions, solutions, etc, then we wouldn’t have regrets, so it means that we aren’t free. For James, a free person is someone that has regrets for they still have possibilities and choices. It would be less meaningful to live life with no hardship and trials that we work hard for.

For me, life is like believing that good things will come to us. I’ve always practiced thinking of happy thoughts. I dislike negative vibes. I’ve always kept a positive thinking despite of the risks of being disappointed. Since, again, you’ll never know what’s going to happen. So, whatever it is, I’ll just keep on believing that it will happen. At least I didn’t regret that I didn’t do something about a decision. Like when I was applying for my US Visa. I know that it’s really hard to get one since there are a lot of TNT’s out there. Despite of that, I kept on believing that I would be able to get one. During my interview, I did my best in answering all the questions asked. Meaning for me, I just don’t believe, I do something about it. I just didn’t rely on believing or faith or fate alone. And it was a success, and I’m proud of it because I did something for me to be able to be given my Visa. Sometimes, it is also us who makes out fate. It is in every decision we make that makes us.

Again, will I be successful? Will I have a bright future? No one knows, but I can do something about it. I will be, if I believe that I will be. William James wants us to discover life’s meaning and we will be able to do so if we put meaning to it and we act on it. A value of something is how it will affect our lives. If something is meaningless to us, don’t bother with it because it doesn’t matter. Life got its ups and downs, we’re always going to have the ups if we keep on believing that we will reach the top.