(#4627) We have to live our values

      I am a progressive/liberal democrat. So how do I look to people who don't know me? Am I an example of caring and helping when the opportunity arises? Do I give of myself so that others can get out of harm? Am I someone who is better to have been met than not? These are easy questions to answer if you know how to live a good life that respects and cares about the lives of others. I just don't say it, I live it. For one thing there is a good selfishness. I know because I like the feeling of my good selfishness. I like and want the feeling I get when I can make a positive influence and real time action in someone's life. That feeling is what I want for me all the time.
     It isn't that others can't have the same experience so my selfishness isn't really an only for me selfishness. But I do like the fact that I live how I think. It is easy for me because I grew up with some things I needed but certainly not the things that I wanted. I know poverty and exclusion. I lost my front teeth to a rock fight when I was 8 so being the butt of all of the toothless jokes growing up and then into my early adulthood taught me that life isn't about how we look but instead how we live. I endured the disadvantage until my mouth stopped growing and then could get a permanent dental bridge to give me a more normal appearance.
     The only way I could afford that dental bridge was paying it off weekly only because I found a dentist and orthodontist who would take payments back then. I was forced to go without many things but kept working and kept my head down until I got the bill paid off. I know humility and I know what it is like being subjected to condescension. So being helpful to others who find themselves in despair about how life has kicked them is natural for me. I could have become an ego maniac and lived like I was beyond special but there is nothing about living a lie that attracts me. I like who I am and I like that I like to help others when I can. It is that good feeling I get that cannot be attained any other way than caring and helping when the opportunity appears in my life.