Stanlich's World:Biography

"Heroes in the real world live 24 hours a day....The truth is pain, and sweat, and paying bills...
The truth is dreams that don't come true, and nobody prints your name in the paper until you die."
                                                                                                     -Big Daddy 
                                           in Tennesee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"

"Watch the world argue, argue with itself. Who's gonna teach me peace and happiness?"
                                                                                                              -INXS
                                                             in their song "Dancing on the Jetty"

I was born in Port Griffith, a small town in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the anthracite coal region of the United States. Growing up in a small town, I was given all the small town hang ups that all small town people have. I learned to live with them and make them part of me. I attended the Pittston Area High School regional school system, and enjoyed studying science and mathematics.

"Back where I come from we have Universities, seats of great learning.  Where men go 
to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts, and with 
no more brains than you have.   But they've got one thing you haven't got...a diploma." 
                                                                                                  -The Wizard
                                                                                      in "The Wizard of Oz"

After graduation, the natural decision was college. I chose to remain in the area and live at home. I attended Wilkes College, in lovely Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. A town that still holds fond memories for me. Wilkes Barre is a magical place during the snows of Christmastime. The Wilkes Campus is a charming little slice of old style living. Many of the campus buildings and dormitories were once the mansions of Wilkes Barre's rich and famous. During the late 19th and early 20th century, Wilkes Barre was a notable town on the circuit. Many of these old homes are registered as national historic places. The Wilkes tradition is never having to say you're sorry that you didn't go to Harvard, Princeton, or Yale. I remained there through 2 degree programs. The college is now a university.

I liked college and learning new things so much that I decided to continue my education and get a graduate degree. I moved to Connecticut in order to attend Western Connecticut State College in Danbury. When I moved to Danbury, it was the fastest growing city in America. I seemed to me that the city's growth was happening at a faster rate than the ability to build housing for the population. The would be citizens had no choice but to drive around the city until they found housing. The traffic in Danbury was horrifying! I soon finished my degree and was ready for my next ambition. The college is now a univeristy.

Ever pressing onward with my relentless quest for knowledge, I moved once again. This time to glorious New Hampshire. I had vacationed there as a kid, and remembered its charm. I attended the University of New Hampshire in Durham. Durham is the closest I have been to a real college town. It's not in the middle of nowhere, geographically, but if it wasn't for the university, it might as well be! But after so many years, university life became boring. I hungered for change, but didn't know what kind I wanted. All I knew was thatI wanted to start my life...before it was over. I left the university as I found it, still a university.

"After a time you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. 
It is not logical, but it is often true." 
                                                                                                  -Mr. Spock 
                                                        in the Star Trek episode "Amok Time"

After a few years in the work force, I got a house, a nice car, and a dog. I was achieving those small town values that I was pressed into as a child. I was at peace with the world, but not with myself. The old memories of learning and wanting to learn still haunted me while I slept. I needed to become the person I wanted to be, and not just what was expected of me. I wanted to go back to school. I enrolled in a night school program through Franklin Pierce College at the Portsmouth Campus. I enjoyed my experience at Franklin Pierce very much, and they must have enjoyed me because I am now on the staff, teaching Geology, Integrated Science, and Biology classes at the Portsmouth Campus during the evenings. Someday soon, I expect the college to become a university.

"No, my friends--no--money will never make you happy--and happy will never make you money.
That might be a wise crack, but I doubt it."
                                                                                             -Groucho Marx
                                                                                           in "The Cocoanuts"

Over the next few years, I had several different jobs in education, full time teacher, substitute, special ed aid, and had a blast doing it. But what I am searching for is stability and a home in the right school system. Hopefully, the right job will not take too long to find.

All through my teaching career, I spent the summers working as a waiter or cook in Southern Maine , with my friend, Rita, who insisted on being mentioned. I still haven't found my life's ambition, although, I am trying to find a stable teaching job. I still don't know if I will ever find one. I'm not sure whether or not it is really important that I do. What is important in the final analysis, is the quest. The human adventure is filled with the wonder of the unknown. We never really know where we are going, but we always know where we've been.

As a scientist, I suppose I should believe that there is no meaning to life. A few billion years ago, a warm ocean, under the influence of a reducing atmosphere constantly ravaged by violent lightening storms, filled with a random collection of chemical compounds, some of which were organic and some were inorganic. Random combinations of these compounds grouped together over millions of years, when suddenly, quite by accident, if not by chance, the right random combination got together, and life began. Evolution progressed by random selection of the life forms which best survived under the conditions present. Four billion years later and here we are, still trying our best to survive under the conditions present. No meaning, just a constant quest for energy to keep our molecules from disassembling, following the laws of thermodynamics, electromagnetism, and gravity, just like everything else in the universe. In that respect, we are no different than a quark, a lithium atom, a water molecule. a slime mold, a jelly fish, a fern, or a pea pod.

As a Christian, I suppose I should believe that the meaning of life is to acquire the perfection we perceive as God. Living a life that is full of grace, regularly doing good deeds for our fellow man, attending church regularly every Sunday, praying regularly every night, will make us pious, just, and holy. And hopefully after we die, God will see our struggle for perfection was not in vein, and grant us audience with Him in Heaven.

As a human, I suppose I should believe that the meaning of life is to be the master of the Earth, and everything on it. My time here should be spend totally fulfilling my own pleasures and desires, without care or consideration of any other thing, either living or non-living, with which I might come in contact. Divide and conquer, use and abuse, everything goes, to the victor belong the spoils!

But as an individual person, who breathes, thinks, and feels, I believe none of that and all of that. Life has many meanings, different for each of us, but yet, there is surprising convergence in those apparently divergent ideas of what life really means.

Life is what you make of it, plain and simple, no strings, no smoke, no mirrors, no free rides. We come into this world with nothing but developing sentience. Everything else after that must be learned. Sometimes we must teach ourselves, and sometimes others must teach us. As we grow and develop, we are all faced with the same needs, wants, problems, and questions.

We spend our lives in search of answers to these questions. Finding the answers depends on how we interact with our environment. If the interaction is negative, then we may never understand our place in the cosmos, but instead, go through life unsure of the answers until even the questions become obscured by our own indifference, and our own ignorance. But, if the interaction is positive, then we can grow to understand our place in the cosmos. That it is the living of a full and meaningful life that gives life it's meaning. Being part of everything, appreciating everything to the fullest, that which we understand, and that which we do not understand, gives us the ability to transcend our own inability to understand all there is, and yet accept our place in the universe. Understanding the gift which is life allows us to help others understand what it means to be alive, to help those lost in the fog of ignorance, to give hope to those without hope, to aid in understanding for those who cannot understand. To be just as appreciative of a frog, or a tree, as we would a friend, for each provides us with something we cannot have without their existence, a connection.

We are all connected to everything else. Some call the connection a gravitational field. Some call it brain waves. Some call it a sense of being. Some call it love. Some call it God. But the truth is, it doesn't matter what you call it. It will be there whether or not you call it anything. It will be there whether or not you even realize that it exists. The meaning of life is to appreciate those connections to the best of our ability, to use all our knowledge, emotions, and internal energies, to give those connections a sense of purpose. To understand and appreciate everyone and everything to the best of your abilities, to create strong, positive energies around you, to make choices that count and decisions that last, to be a better person tomorrow than you were yesterday, that is the meaning of life. That truly is the perfection for which we should all strive.

And when life is finally over, if we do it right, our matter will be woven into the fabric of the universe, our energy dispersed in the spacetime continuum. Our life will have meaning, we will live on forever, and touch the hand of God.

"Remember always that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others." -- The Wizard of Oz

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URL: http://www.worldpath.net/~stanlich/biograph.html

BRIEF HISTORY	The more or less ordinary path my life has taken so far.
SOME DETAILS	The more or less ordinary statistical details about me.
MY HEROES	My more or less ordinary ordinary heroes.
MEANING of LIFE	My more or less ordinary thoughts on the meaning of life.
ICQ CONTACT	A more or less ordinary way to contact me.

	Name:	Stanley Joseph Freeda
	Birthdate:	5 February 1958
	Sunsign:	Aquarius
	Home:	Farmington, New Hampshire
	Occupation:	Science Teacher
	Dog:	Dude, a Border Collie mix
The Freeda Coat of Arms	Cats:	Riley, a Red Point Siamese mix. Jersey, a Siamese mix.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard	The Scarecrow	MacGyver

Captain Picard is a hero to me because he quests for knowledge of the unknown, and is willing to face risks to achieve his goal. He has the "heart of an explorer and the soul of a poet".	The Scarecrow is a hero to me because all he wants is a brain. He views life as incomplete without knowledge. He values that knowledge so much that he is willing to face overwhelming odds in order to gain it.	MacGyver is a hero to me because he uses science and intellect to solve his problems. He succeeds using non-violent, scientific methods in order to solve problems created by an often too violent world.