26 Years Later -- Goals? Why Do We Need Them?
I just found two speeches I wrote when I was 18 years old (now I'm 44). Below is one of them (I'll post the other one later): Goals. Why do we need them. Goals help us establish meaning and values in our lives. They give us a purpose in life. When we strive for goals, we are adding growth and identity to our lives. Everyone needs to determine some kind of goal. Viktor Frankl quotes Nietzsche in his book saying, "He who has a 'why' for living can bear with almost any 'how.'" Cases of extreme deprivation such as the concentration camp experience in the past wars illustrate the human need for a sense of direction and purpose; those who lost all sense of meaning and gave up hope, died. Although we are not faced with such extreme conditions, the lack of meaning seems to be a pressing and pervasive problem in our society. Many who are fortunate enough to achieve power, fame, success, and material comfort nevertheless experience a sense of emptiness. Altho