My Values

A good friend of mine recently helped me to summarize my life's goal into a more succinct and readable statement, than my earlier mission:

Enjoy life and help others to enjoy life.

Shira Yael D.: My "Official" Mission statement:

Live an honorable, open loving and enjoyable life, while being a responsible and contributing member of society.

I do the right thing because it is, for me, the right thing to do.
I live my life honestly and openly; an example to myself and others.
I make the best contribution I can to society, valuing others contributions for their own values, and mine according to my values.
I show care and encouragement, and compassion.
I defend myself and those around me while remaining compassionate.
I discover and do things that I enjoy, sharing my energy with others.
I develop my full potential, physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.
I develop a stable sense of security physically, financially, and mentally.
I gather and share my life with open, honest, caring, positive-action, responsible people.

I largely credit Stephen Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" for helping me to develop this set of values.
I previously held a fairly strict code of honor, which resembles the above values, but did not include compassion. That code basically emulated the famous "death before dishonor" code, and included the USAF Academy honor code of I "will not lie cheat or steal, nor tolerate those who do." I have come to understand, in the past few years, that life requires more than that.

Yo, si, quiero mejorar la vida y el mundo, para todos.

Those are the things I value in life. In death, I suppose my values, in the form of a will, would read like this:

No heroics, life-extending therapies, machines, nor resuscitation, in case of incapacitation with loss of brain or bodily functions. All property and assets to go to Havurat Shalom in Somerville, MA, to be disposed of by the board. Second choice is for all assets to go to the local chapter of the US Green Party, and if that is not possible, then to Habitat for Humanity. My organs should all be donated.

For questions, constructive comments, a coffee date, etc,
email catalan_athens@yahoo.com

Toward Peace For All, Paz para todos,

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