Someone asked me to share with you some of my life memories.
Truth be told – I have nothing exciting to tell you.
I never hiked the Himalayas.
I never went to the moon.
I never killed a lion, although, I did manage to get hold of a lion’s skin, at the age of ten-years-old, to compare my hair-color to his.
To my fascination, it was identical!
But after seventy five years, this is the real memory I hope to take with me, in this world and in the next:
I want to create memories in forms of people who are pleasant-looking.
Not externally, but internally.
People of character and of action, in whom I can take pride in, as stated in the verse: “Israel, in whom I take glory” (Isaiah 49:3).
A ninety-four year old friend gave me today an 18-year-old whiskey in honor of my birthday.
The real gift, for which I am truly thankful, was the mere fact that he came to see me at such an age.
But if you want to give me a birthday gift, I plead with you, make something of yourselves.
Be more. Do more. Become more.
Let the fire of God burn within you.
And strive to grow into beings of “glory before God” and beings of “glory before others,” (Ethics of our Fathers, Chapter 2:1).
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz