Why are we here?

This time of year, a lot of people make resolutions or reflect on the previous year.  I try to reflect on my life every day, not just in January, and I'm generally not one to make resolutions just because it's the new year either.  But I have been thinking a lot about what the purpose of life is over the past few weeks.  I was watching Dogma the other day and at one point one of the characters asks God: "Why are we here?"  It's a good question.

I won't lie.  I tend to be a bit of a hedonist.  I do things because they are going to make me feel good.  I don't really worry to much about the consequences of my actions to the extent that I probably should.  I tend to live in the short term.  However, at the same time, I believe in trying to treat others with respect.  This is something I fail at too often, but in the past few days I have been trying to make amends with people that I have not been very respectful to and it's been nice.  In terms of the purpose of life, trying to contribute to positiveness in the world rather than negativeness has to be up there.  And if nothing else, it's helped to get me off the life tilt I've been on by making *me* feel more positive.