“Shoot for the stars, even if you miss, you will land on the moon.”
The idea of working for an ideal or a goal is very noble and has been advocated by many people over the ages repeatedly. But concentrating only on a far off distant point robs you of the ability to see what is in front of you. The system of the human body does not operate on ideals and fantasies or even utopia idylls; it operates on the daily basis on living eating breathing and existing as a productive meaning of the society. If you make a goal the sole purpose of your life you will die without ever having lived. The sides of the mountain sustain life; the top of the peak is a barren wasteland of snow and rocks. While reaching the top is an excellent ambition, to be best at whatever you do a laudable achievement, the price that is needed to pay for the ambition is grievous. If you think only that you have to get a good job, have to have a big house, a trophy wife, a sports car and arouse the envy of all your neighbors you are not living for yourself but for your vanity.
Concentrate on the smaller goals
Your life will have no enjoyment if you concentrate only on the distant goals if life. The simple pleasures in life will pass you by. The joy of waking up on a clear morning with fresh blue skies, the delight in enjoying a cup of coffee or tea, taking pleasure in a good meal, being delighted in the company of your friends – all of this is going to pass you by, leaving you an old man, filled with regrets and waiting to die alone at the end of your life. Asking for death, praying for it, begging the fates to end your suffering because you spent you best years in achieving goals that did not matter is a very sad way to go out of the world. While life is full of sorrow and the nights are full of terrors, there is also happiness in life, joy in every breath you take and fire enough in the day to burn away all the dark shades of the night.
Having an ambition is a good thing. It enables you to compete with other people, it gives you the drive to accomplish things that are difficult, it sets you high above the rest of the world as a man who has everything in life – but the victory will be hollow, the triumph meaningless, the glory bitter and the success pathetic because they will not stay with you when the days grow dark and the nights grow cold. Family, friends, people who you love and cherish are the greatest treasures that a man can have in life. Don’t throw your life away for abstract concepts; spend it in the pursuit of tangible happiness like a hug, a kiss, a home to come back to after a hard day’s work.
