Site Masthead: Nick's Place in non-serif white text superimposed over a bright orange high contrast tinted photograph of a brick wall taken in an extreme close up. The brick is photographed with the long continuous lines of grout running vertically. The image is displayed upside-down so the disappearing point for the grout is below the image.

Nick's Place

Nick's Place: Personal Statments of Purpose


Overriding

I believe that my goal in every month, day, hour, minute, second, and millisecond should be to further enhance not only myself but those around me, as those I choose to be with directly reflect on what type of a person I am; I should make every effort to reflect on them in a positive way.

I must also realize and live every day as if it will be my last. Death is an unpredictable thing. In direct contrast to this the future is the place of my dreams and hopes and fears, it must be respected and dreamed of fully and whole heartily. My strength lies in knowing where I can go, not where I have been. The past is a guide of what I have done and what I am capable of, it is not something to bind me down and restrict what I can do.

Activism

Activism is a direct outgrowth of dreaming and being visionary about the future. Activism should not be about lamenting the past, but about taking actions to create a future that is better than the past. Activism is a tool that utilizes peoples intellectual and emotional selves to suede them to further agree with my vision of the future, and act on our shared visions of the future.

Activism is also an intense form of love. While often activist pursuits will on the surface appear as wholly self-serving actions, activism involves asserting ownership upon the community you live in. Not being an activist is denying a personal responsibility to enhance those around me.

Friends

Friends are the strength that allows dreams to be born. While the enhancement of all of those around me applies universally, the enhancement of my friends is of utmost importance. They are the strength that allows me to fully self actualize who I am and I endeavor to be a support in their self-actualization.

Spirituality

I recognize the inner sanctity of all life, and will respect life around me and the contribution the life around me brings to the planet in which we share, and to my own personal life. Spirituality should never be a dogmatic endeavor; something that has not been determined by me personally as useful is of no use in building into my spiritual life.

Artistic

Art is not worth doing unless it makes an improvement in the human condition. This contribution can be direct by enlightening the audience to knowledge of their inner self, indirect by providing entertainment that removes them from the pains and grinds of their life. Finally art created can also make an immensely personal improvement in the artist's life.

I will not consume or produce art that does not make an improvement in the human condition, such art removes resources from the overriding goal of enhancing those around me, ergo it is a waste of time, and limited resources.

Personal Maintenance

Often personal maintenance at first seems like a vain waste of time, it is the foundation towards achieving all of my personal goals. If I do not maintain my body and mind achieving my other goals may be significantly more difficult, if not impossible.

Fiscal

Money is a tool towards achieving other goals, and should never be sought as an end within itself.

Consequently, operating at a fiscal deficit is borrowing from my future and my dreams. When operating at a fiscal deficit it is of utmost importance to evaluate every purchase in not what it brings for my immediate needs, but instead what it contributes to my dreams and my future.