Take care of your pennies

During my teaching days, I not only taught English and History, but handled Moral Science lessons for high school children. These were happy hours not only because I was not circumscribed by any syllabus, but could also visit young minds and hopefully shape them for the future. I omitted any mention of religion, God or the hereafter. My emphasis was on goals and on the life spent here on Earth. Why goals, you may ask. What do they have to do with Moral Science?

On encountering a new batch of students, I would ask them whether they had any goals and also the meaning they attached to them. Almost invariably the answer would be that goals were important because attaining them would bring happiness. This of course is a valid and honest answer, but, as I would go on to point out, goals mean much more than just happiness. They lie at the roots of a meaningful and upright life. The word ‘happiness’ can denote varied things. It can mean money, status or power. However, none of these are long-lasting. They can desert you at any point of time. The real value of setting goals and attaining them lie not in the rewards one gathers, but in the person one becomes as a result of achieving them.

Reaching goals could mean obstacles and disappointments. What matters is how we face difficulties. In this sense, goals are vehicles that help us to become something more than we already are. We need goals not for what they can get us, but for what they can do for us.

In the pursuit of worthwhile goals, one develops greater courage, learns about personal discipline and achieves more self-confidence. Mingling with others helps one to gain empathy and compassion. In other words, the person grows and gains maturity. The process is slow and often intangible but it occurs and we learn and grow every step of the way.

The best life is both aspirational and inspirational. The pursuit of right goals is a way of achieving both, for it brings happiness and also shapes a person’s character. One is reminded of the wise proverb, ‘Take care of your pennies (goals), and the pounds (hereafter) will take care of themselves.’