It must be borne in mind
that the tragedy of life doesn't lie
in not reaching your goal.
The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.
It isn't a calamity to die
with dreams unfulfilled,
but it is a calamity not to dream.
It is not a disaster
to be unable to capture your ideal,
but it is a disaster
to have no ideal to capture.
It is not a disgrace
not to reach the stars,
but it is a disgrace
to have no stars to reach for.
Not failure,
but low aim
is a sin
- Benjamin E. Mayes

I started thinking about my life's goals shortly after a 1968 Yavneh Gesher trip to Israel. It took about two years to consolidate what I want to accomplish. Those goals have remained stable. They have guided and directed me through a very fulfilling life. I'll be happy to share them with you here.

• Excellence in my fields
  • I want to be among the best
  • I want to develop new insights and procedures
• Future
  • I want to leave things behind for others
  • I want to make a difference to the world
    • Organizations and organizational work
    • AACA: the Aliyah movement
    • Soviet Jewry: The movements should represent action, not fun
    • Writing: I want to share and leave behind my thoughts and knowledge for future generations
  • Children
    • I want to leave them with my knowledge
    • I want them to share my own unique definition of bilingualism
    • I want their Yiddishkeit to be better and stronger than my own
  • Israel
    • I will live in Israel because I belong in Israel
    • I will not evaluate whether I want to live here
  • Marriage
    • I searched for a marriage partner who accepts these guidelines as a sine qua non
    • My life goals required stability and predictability
  • Understanding and ordering my own world
    • Librarianship
      In order to organize my physical world

      Psychology

      In order to understand how others act

      Counseling and guidance

      In order to predict (with a modicum of accuracy) how others may act in the future

  

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  Keywords: Accomplishments, Can do, Evaluation, Future, Goals, Israel, Knowledge, Raising, Vision
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