I encountered an expression a few weeks ago; it is a popular educator’s term, but it was new to me. The writer was detailing the history of treatment for PTSD and he mentioned the fact that human beings are “meaning makers.” That is, we don’t tend to deal with our life experiences as random, meaningless events; rather, we imbue them with meaning, significance, value.

I can agree with that idea without reservation; it matches my life experience precisely. But it jogged my memory of a conversation I had with a relative decades ago. Basically he was saying that our actions toward one another have no real significance; he literally said they don’t “mean anything.” The context was moral versus immoral behavior. We were leaning against a railing in the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN overlooking an expanse of architectural beauty below. I had no immediate comment as I recall. But it sure didn’t jibe with the morals I’d been taught even though in some ways I wanted it to be true.

In the many years since that conversation I have witnessed the devastating effects caused by disbelief in the “meaning” melded into our interactions with one another. Some of these effects have been caused by yours truly, others I have observed on the world’s stage. But in both cases the notion that actions are valueless, meaningless events, i.e. things that “just happen”between persons . . . is one that leaves a trail of burned bridges in its wake.

Our society is close to becoming numb to questions of morality. We are near to embracing the notion that the only moral position worth taking is the one that celebrates everyone’s freedom to choose. And we act as if we are socially savvy enough, worldly wise enough, and historically aware enough to be unquestionably secure in our point of view. We think we’ve been “awakened” but in actuality we are asleep at the proverbial wheel.

Civilization has taken many forms throughout world history, and the lessons of history seem as if they must be learned over and over again, ad infinitum. Maybe there is no way around it; maybe it is an inevitable reality of humanness that we must cycle through this. If nothing we do really “means” anything then I guess it doesn’t matter. But I’ve never met a person yet (including the relative I mentioned above), be they atheist, moralist, religionist, etc., who truly lives as if actions are meaningless.

I think that is because as human beings we are ALL meaning makers. When one ceases to be a meaning maker he/she enters depression, or contemplates suicide, or enters the dark world of the sociopath . . . . Because one thing is certain: none of us lives long without knowing deep inside our heart of hearts that what we do matters, has value, “means” something.

What do you think? Are you a meaning maker?