The Abstracted Bucket List

One thing TAE constantly finds miraculous and frustrating is how "bucket lists" are almost always completely self indulgent. People make lists of all the things they want to do in a given period of time, and those things usually involve seeing or tasting or hearing...things that will give the person seemingly valuable personal experiences and that will give them a long and fulfilling list of accomplishments.
And while self-satisfaction is a worthy and important lifelong goal, so too is doing things in the service of others. For example, a typical bucket list goal would be to build your own cabin on your land, or build your dream home...
...would not an equally satisfying goal be to build a Habitat for Humanity home? Certainly, you lose the ability to use the home after it is completed...but you gain the blessings and grace of a family that now has a place to live. Or why not do both? Another example would be to ride your bike across a state. Why not make that state Iowa, and join RAGBRAI, raising money to fight cancer?

So with that in mind, TAE has spent (literally) the last two years assembling an active list of selfish and not-so-selfish bucket list goals. This entry will go into a special floating section of the blog page, for easy viewing and updating. Expect the list to change as my motives change. I also welcome recommendations for other bucket list entries. For simplicity, I have created two sections, Selfish Goals and Unselfish Goals.

Selfish Goals:
1. Climb all 54 of Colorado's Fourteeners, stand at the peak of each and scream at the top of my lungs.
2. Learn French. Order food at Olive Garden in French, then get irritated with the American waiter for not understanding me.
3. Learn Spanish, visit a country where that is the native language and not speak a word of English while there.
4. Hunt an Apex Predator. Look into its eyes before I kill it.
5. Take my family to Bora Bora.
6. Learn to surf.
7. Start my own engineering firm.
8. Stand up for an issue even if it costs me a friend.
9. Ride an elephant. In Africa.
10. Drop whatever I am doing and help out a friend.
11. Finish my book: "Redemption"
12. Get my PhD. Teach a class at a University. Become renowned amongst students for my kooky behavior and excitement over boring material.
13. During an award acceptance speech, yawn.
14. Jump a train.

Unselfish Goals:
1. Make an anonymous donation of at least $10,000. Tell no one I did this.
2. Be a Scout leader for my kid(s). Take them camping.
3. Build a Habitat for Humanity house.
4. Drop whatever I am doing and help out a friend.
5. Get the "5 gallon" pin from the Red Cross
6. Ride my bike in a race for charity.
7. Actively stop a crime in progress.
8. Take cupcakes to school every year on my kid's birthday.
9. During an award acceptance speech, thank my parents.
10. Help someone find God.


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