GOALS

It was Charles Kettering who said: "I expect to spend the rest of my life in the future, so I want to be reasonably sure of what kind of future it's going to be. This is the reason for planning."
Way back then we called it Junior High School. It was seventh grade and we learned a lot of things. It was the first time when students went from class room to class room instead of the teacher. This was quite an event, because each teacher had their classroom all trimmed with the things they taught. I still remember the final exam in geography. We were given a U. S. map printed on mimeograph paper. We were to place the name of the state and its capital and the year that the state was admitted to the union along the side of the paper which was numbered 1 thru 48 and then place an "x" in a circle for the location of the capital of the state on the map. I was really proud, because I was the only one in the class who got every one correct. Since the teacher graded on the curve, I got the top grade. Not so in some of the other classes where I got some B's and C's.
Of all my education I would say I enjoyed the 7th grade the most. However, the second year in college came in as a close second. Mr. Anderson, the 7th grade teacher taught a class in guidance. In this class we studied different occupations and learned how to set life goals. We also had to set them for the final exam. The vision we studied and the goals I set in the class has lasted my entire life. I still have some of those goals yet to complete.
We set financial goals. How much money we expected to make before we retired. Our earnings at different ages: age 25, age 40, age 50, and the age we wanted to retire. I remember setting my retirement date of March 1, 1999, in this class at the age of 12. I also set my life time financial goals. Other goals were set too. Personal goals such as what kind of life am I going to live.
The teacher was a strong Christian person. Each day He began each of his classes with prayer and he prayed for each of his students by name. He prayed that they be encouraged as they set their life goals that each one would choose an occupation that would allow them to fulfill each of their goals and that their education would be fruitful. He taught that God had a hand in each persons life and that person could choose to follow God's calling or ignore it. He also taught that a person had an obligation to his fellow man to make his place in the world better for mankind.
I set other goals too. One was to follow God and lead my family to do the same, and to marry a girl who had the same principals. I set travel goals, education goals, occupation goals, to name a few.
We also learned how to set major and minor goals. How to revise or change goals. As you can tell from the forgoing, goals were a major influence in my life. I carried a little card in my wallet most of my life and the only thing it said was "GOALS". I would encourage you if you have not planned your life with goals that you consider thinking about doing it.
My Dad [H. Ray] had quotes that he repeated often in our home, two of these were: " Begin to commence" and "Can't never did nothing". When he was in the hospital, with what was thought to be a heart attack, it was just he and I and we talked about his life goals and my life goals and I will never forget that special time.
Storytelling adds substance to names and dates chiseled in granite and keeps memories alive.
John