Goal!

Remember back, back to ninth grade. Try to remember what your goals were in life at that point. I know what mine were. If you asked me to list them, it would look something like this:

• Get married to the woman I love
• Have six to eight children
• Become a famous inventor
• Solve world hunger
• Live in a big house on a lake
• Spend time with my family
• Go on awesome vacations with my family to interesting places, like the Grand Canyon
Drive a cool car

Of course, although I knew exactly what I wanted to do, I had no clue what path to take to get there, and so I wasted a good 20 years. By that point many of these goals were unreachable. I do love my wife, we do have children (though not the quantity I expected), I do live relatively near a lake, and we have been to the Grand Canyon.

A friend shared with me a project her daughter did for school on what her goals were. But they weren't given a blank sheet of paper. I guess that would be asking too much of them, to know what they wanted. Instead, they were given a list of suggested goals and asked to prioritize them. What dismayed my friend (and me) was that the things that we would have chosen for goals were nowhere to be found. Here is the list:

• Making it on my own
• Getting an education
• Making a lot of money
• Getting along with my parent
• Having a romantic relationship
• Living according to my religious beliefs
• Staying out of trouble with the law
• Having a friend I can always count on
• Having a job I really like
• Having sex with someone I love
• Being in good physical condition
• Doing something that makes a difference in my community
• Having time alone with myself
• Becoming famous
• Avoiding HIV infection and other sexually transmitted disease
• Being successful in sports
• Being in style
• Having others look up to me
• Having children when I feel ready to raise them
• Having fun
• Write your own here

While I have (and intend to continue to) avoid HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, I'd hardly call it a goal. Yet this young lady put it as her number one goal. Likewise high on her list was having sex with someone she loves. I guess she'd better hope that person has the same number one goal.

What a sad commentary on our public schools when children have their goals handed to them by people with an agenda to deny culture and civilization.

Posted in: education,Politics