What is one value that is central to who you are?

“What is one value that is central to who you are?”

I listen, I care, I give, and I always want to be a friend.

These are very dear to me, I'm never more myself when I listen, care, give and try to be a friend to whoever in need of one.

I was born 80% deaf in my right ear and 20% deaf in my left. I never found it as a burden or something to just hate. I always found it as a gift. It's helped me in a way to Listen more. Being hard of hearing helps me to appreciate how much I want to listen to people and their worlds, and the world we all live in. I want to know every person I meet. I care about them because I know they're living life and they have a purpose, and that they are very important. I know they have stories inside them. I want to give to them because maybe no one else has. Maybe no one else paid attention to them, I wouldn't know, and I am a friend anyway. They're deserving of that kind of special love and care. Life is hard, and we all have hard days... we're all imperfect. I want to try to be a person who can bring a kind of peace into someone's life. Give them a reason to hope, to help them know or remember that they are precious and beautiful! They themselves are gifts. I am here to be a friend. I want to show that in a world full of people, I want and I choose to be a friend to this person here in front of me. No matter where you've been, or what you have endured or are enduring, no matter who you are or who you hope to be, I will be your friend. I want to know you. I want to hear you, I am listening. Let me tell you...

You are very important.

You are very precious.

You have a heart, a story, a unique world inside you like no other world here. I see you. And I love you. You're a person just like me! You've got a story, you really, truly do! And I know it's beautiful!

A story of how I came to hold these values...

I'm not really sure. I know my mom and dad helped me in many ways, and later in life my little brother being born, he's helped me become a better person. I always felt deep down that there's more to a world, a person, than that seen on the surface. I can care too much, and there's a reason for that. I felt I could see things that no one I knew could see. So I reach farther down within myself a greater meaning to my life, and I try all the time to help someone else find that similar thing within themselves too. We're all different, I recognize that and I love that. It's beyond beautiful to me that we are all individually, uniquely...different. I try every day to be as existential as possible. To understand as much as I can about the person next to me or far away from me, my friend, my relative, or a stranger I never saw before.

In my mind and heart, one thought leads to another after another, and I come to care for each thought. Just like I care about my past self; I care about my present self. And in the future, I will care for my past self and appreciate what I use to think or do, and grow from that and become a stronger person. My past and present and future aren't burdens, they're gifts! And I wouldn't recognize this had I not had my own sufferings at a young age. Every step in life now is just as important as the last step, and just as important as the next step.

~

I go to the park with a friend, we'd have lunch after a tough hike up a steep hill. We find a bench and sit. The bench is marked with the name of a person who once lived and has now passed. I wonder; who's this person, what were they like, what kind of life did they live? Where did they come from, how far did they go, and did they live happily? Did they grow gardens or did they lay waste? What sorrows, sufferings, burdens did they endure, alone or not alone? Did they do something about their life trials, did they grow from their experiences or did they move through the motions? Who were they, what did they leave here, what did they take with themselves? Were they a friend, or were they a foe, to themselves or to others? I wish I'd known them.

I smile. And then I'm back with my friend, looking out, admiring the view of the mountain and all the nature surrounding it. The birds sing and the trees dance in the ways of the wind. I appreciate the wonderful weather, the prepared food in the basket, and the love mother nature brings into my life and to the lives of others. I give thanks for the world and all its wonders. I love these moments. I love thinking.

What is one value that is central to who you are?