The sun is setting across the sea as you sit and gaze at the magnificence and beauty of the view. The wind blows across your face as you watch in silence, not mindful of the shouts of children or the blare of the music from the bar just across the beach. Suddenly, you get to thinking about your self, your passions and dreams and where all these things fit in the greater scheme of things.

Questions such as “What is your purpose?” and “What are your convictions?” fill your mind. “What are you passionate about?” and “What would you do love doing most?” are also some forms of this looking inside. These are questions that you should ask to the face you see in the mirror.

A handful of bloggers, unplanned and maybe unaware, have posted entries along similar lines, and there could be possibly be more as the number of comments to Jayvee’s blog conviction question continues to draw in more people. Sasha asks “Do you know what is in you?” right after looking for your life’s cornerstones. Just a few days before that, Gail talks about real-life passion. And there is Tina who embarked on The Great Adventure of being legally adult – asking yet content to please only her real One True Love.

I will attempt to put in my voice, as an affirmation to those who are asking.

There are three words define who I am and what I do. They answer the questions my friends have asked themselves. They conveniently encompass my whole being, in the physical, spiritual, emotional and social aspects of my person. They transcend compartmentalization of thought and ideas, converging into one focused theme.

Learn. Educate. Serve.

To learn all I can, to become a lifelong learner. I have adopted an idea from Leo Buscaglia that I should never go to bed without learning something new. A student eternal, that I am.

There are other students of life like me, searching for answers to things they do not know. I will share what I have if they’ll let me into their world. Now the student becomes a teacher.

And when we mesh the role of a student or a teacher, you come to realize that your objective is to serve. To follow, to lead. To be effective and inspiring. A life of service for others – a servant-leader.

I’ve asked all these questions to myself several years ago, on several occasions. After some iterations and looking at my prime motivation, I have answered: Learn. Educate. Serve.

Though I still ask the same question every now and then, I still get the same answer. Will it ever change? Maybe. But for now this suits me fine, I’ll let the future take care of itself and live in the moment.

I know in my heart and mind that this is what I live for.