Life has value as long as you're happy with how you're living it. If you have family and friends then you'll always have a place to start, but the real test of if life is worth living is the attitude you live it with. If you can face life with a positive attitude and are willing to change things around you, then your life will have value. We don't have to decide consciously if life is worth it, we just know as we're living it.
One of the things I want to do most is travel more. I want to go to Australia, New Zealand, South America, Israel again -- lots of places. I love seeing new places and the feeling of being somewhere new, in a different type of environment. I think the urge to travel is one that all of humanity shares, as evidenced by the hugely profitable travel industry. We like to explore and discover new things, our curiosity made us who we are today. Traveling also helps us see ourselves in relation to the rest of the world, in this way we can see better what makes us unique and get to better know ourselves. Journeys are traditionally associated with self-discovery, so traveling is the perfect way to learn both about the world and about ourselves.
I also want to see many more birds, especially New Zealand's Kakapo, a flightless, nocturnal parrot that is critically endangered. I'm a dedicated birdwatcher, so birds are always among my highest priorities when I travel and I would gladly make an entire trip just to see one special bird. The Kakapo is one of my favorites, and when I finally do see one (and I will!) I know I'll always remember it as one of the highlights of my birding life. The rest of the world doesn't tend to care about birds as much as I do, and most people have never even heard of the Kakapo, but the concept of working towards an important goal is one that all humans understand. Others' goals are different from mine, but everyone is able to understand why aims like these are important.
Another thing I want to do is to help save a species. I was inspired in this after reading Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine (a writer and a zoologist), which tells of the authors' trips around the world to find endangered species in the wild and help bring them to the world's attention. The section that had the greatest impact on me was the one that told of the efforts of Carl Jones and his team to bring back several species on the island of Mauritius (once home to the Dodo). They were responsible for the amazingly successful (so far) recovery of the Mauritius Kestrel and the progress of the Pink Pigeon, as well as several other birds. To me, extinction is one of the worst tragedies in this world, so when I read this I was inspired to try to help prevent it. This is important to the world because every species is unique and important, and as we are responsible for many species' decline, it is our responsibility to save them.
At some point I want to fill in the gaps in my knowledge of the Torah and Jewish law. I learned large sections of each while at a Jewish school, but there were other chunks that we didn't have time to do. Someday I want to finish learning these sections, my religion is very important to me and I always want to learn more about it. This isn't really directly important to humanity as a whole, but for the Jews it's very important that our history and laws continue to be passed down through the generations, and with the amount of assimilation taking place in the present day that's more important than ever. It's vital that Jewish education continue strongly.
I also want to spend some time living in Israel. This would represent an intersection of my interests, for in addition to being the holiest place in Judaism the country is also on the flight path for many of the birds migrating from Europe and Asia to Africa -- they can't fly over the Mediterranian so they take the quickest land route. While there, I could improve my knowledge of Hebrew and Judaism and study the region's birds. Again, this isn't important to humanity aside from representing the fulfillment of several goals, but by meeting my goals I would be showing that it could be done and might inspire some of those around me.
One of the most important things in life is setting goals and meeting them. To do this we must have a positive, can-do attitude toward life, and by doing it we prove to ourselves and to others that life is what we make of it -- and we can always make it better.
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