Satjadham presents the next installment in our series "Different Perspective of Life." Written by Soudary Kittivong, a Junior Political Science/Asian American Studies double major at UC Santa Barbara. What is life? As a twenty year old youngin, I have experienced in years only a part of my intended length of time of a normal lifetime. Yet, in those twenty years, I have grown through living and created the core of my life that will guide the way the rest of my adult life will be led. There is a core of thought in my mind where ideas have developed through personal, familial, educational, occupational, inter-relational, and societal experiences. But let's not forget how we became who we are today. There was a time when we had no worries on our shoulders, a time when life was fun and the biggest excitement was watching cartoons on Saturday or playing outside with the neighbor kids until sun down. A time called childhood. I want to remind everyone, including myself, that life can be hard, and it can be fun, and it can be a challenge. So take a few minutes and remind ourselves of life as a child is to humble our minds, and to forget the pressures of everyday life, such as the irritation boss/co-worker, or professor, or the crazy driver that cut you off on the freeway. Let's time warp back to your own childhood. And let's remind ourselves of the children around us who will take care of us when we are (reeeeeaaaallly) old... happy spirits happy days. a smile of a friend, a hug of a small child, perhaps your own, perhaps not. youth is a gift, our bodies only have it for a mere part of our lives, depending on how we treat it the longer it might last. youth is too short sometimes, when we rush to get ahead of where we are. youth may stay with us, but only if we appreciate its innocence; how its own nature is what created us today. sometimes we forget we ever had a time of youth... to remember how we came about, look today at the youth--and remind them of their gift, if only to keep the youth hidden in us alive. jan 26,96 **************************************************************************** Please email comments, questions, criticisms etc to: laolit@monash.cc.edu.au or post to soc.culture.laos.