May 1, 2009 By William R. Adan

The journey that is life may be made happy and memorable if we tuck within us these imperatives as we move forward: goal, action and love.

We need a goal at different stages of our life. A goal gives us purpose and direction of what we want to do with our time, energy and resources. Without a goal we are like a machine in motion that is unattached to a system to produce work and thus accomplices nothing. A street philosopher once said that “ang tawong walay goal kuwanggol.” A kuwanggol is a “99,” or a person who wanders and roams the many streets and corners of this world without understanding his purpose or knowing his reason for being.

As we continue in the journey we set many goals along the way. For instance, upon finishing high school we set our mind for college. After finishing college, we focus our eyes on employment. Once employed, we set our goal for higher position and salary, or bigger income as a private entrepreneur. The goals would further branch out to having a family with a respectable house and other amenities in life. We never run out of wishes in life and thus we always have goals to pursue if we value our wishes. Only a very few of us verbalize or write our goals. Most etch their goals in their mind or nurture them in their heart.

A goal without action is nothing. We have to do something to achieve something. We need plans and strategies to realize our goal. Boys send roses and chocolates to the object of their affection to win their heart. We send out application letters to different firms to fish out a possible employment. We work hard and give our best to the job we landed into to prove our worth and get the nod for a raise. We need practice and exercises to raise our ability towards excellence and higher productivity. For instance, we need to read more and write frequently and studiously if we wish to improve and hone our writing skill. Raising our performance level requires discipline, that is, discipline coming and imposed from within us. To rely on external discipline, on outside authorities to accomplish something is never sustainable. Only self-discipline can prod us, body and soul, to keep on moving, reaching and realizing our cherished dreams.

Not all of our goals and our dreams may be realized. But it is not much of an event. Of importance is we have tried and worked hard for what we believe is beautiful and right. We can always modify our goal, recreate our dream and work all over again. God does not always answer our prayers to spare us from the adverse effects of some of our wishes.

However, no matter how many miles we have traveled and goals attained, it may all amount to nothing if at the end of the day we find ourselves alone, detached, uninvolved and, worse, unloved. Mother Teresa once said that the most terrible of poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted. Indeed, success is nothing if we don’t have someone to share it with.