What Do You Want to Be? | A Rosh Hashanah Sermon

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On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom.

One of the most, if not the most important questions you could ever ask yourself is, what do you want to be? I got the chills. It's so big. It's so simple. And I never thought of it. It's so amazing that it just hit me. What do you, what do I want to be? The only time the question is asked That's a worthy topic for a Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

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Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Hear thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs. And to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to dennisprager.com.

You should know, so now is the sermon time. So you should know this is the hardest thing I do all year. Radio, uh, uh, uh, writing. The hardest thing I have is to give you a meaningful sermon. And the reason is so many of you have heard me so often. Uh, some, you know, my radio show is daily. Uh, and, and so I, I almost wish sometimes, I wish, you know, like, uh, you know, in a London synagogue would invite me. To sermonize on Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, I take me five minutes to prepare anything I wanted. But you're a challenge. I gotta tell you, you know, I don't want you to say, you know, I heard that Wednesday, April sixth. You know, it's a very real issue. And not only that, I teach each each Shabbat at the Dominion that we facted. So, so. This one I've really, I have never, it, it, it's so simple and I never came up with this. It's very recent. It hit me and I'll tell you how it hit me. I know exactly the etiology of this particular subject. The subject is, what do you want to be? Simple as that. So this is how it hit me. Uh, a few months ago, it, it occurred to me that, uh, I, I, my son, my older son is married. Uh, so obviously, among other things, I'm a father-in-law and a father. And it, it, for whatever reason, it occurred to me, I'd already thought about this previously, but it really hit me. I have a real desire to be an An easy father and an easy father-in-law. This is like a, a, a goal. I, I, I wanna be totally non-burdensome on my, on my children and, and, uh, on my, on, in this case, daughter-in-law and hopefully another daughter-in-law one day. But that's, so it's like, it's, it's, it became a goal. I, I want to be easy. In my, uh, in my daughter-in-law's, uh, life and in my son's life. By the way, my parents were very easy in my life. And I, I, I, I said that all the time. I was so grateful. They were so wrapped up in each other that on occasion when I would call, they'd go, Dennis, who? That's just a joke. It's a dark joke. Uh, but they really were, they were truly wrapped up in each other and had each other, uh, till they were, uh, 90 and 89. And then when my mother died, it, it, it was a very dark period for my dad till he died at 96. Uh, he, he, he lived, she, he lived, she was the center of his life. I, which, which is great until the center collapses. There's no blessing that doesn't come with a curse. That's When it says in the Torah, I give you blessings and curses, I've always understood, 'cause they come together. They're not totally separate. Anyway, so I, uh, they, they were very easy and I, I was so appreciative 'cause I know so many adults who have difficult parents, you know, drama queen mothers, uh, obsessive fathers, controlling fathers. Uh, it's, it's endless. And that made, so all of a sudden I started thinking, huh, I want to be easy. And then I thought, wow, maybe that's a great way to think about life. What do you want to be? People don't. First of all, let me say just a word about easy. Don't, uh, it sounds, uh, like it's not a big deal. It's big. If you're married to an easy spouse, you got it made. You have easy kids, you are really lucky. You have easy parents, easy people at work. I, I mean, I'll give you one totally Uh, out to lunch example, not out to lunch, just totally different example. A, an unbelievable blessing in my life is the truly great number of terrific human beings I meet. It's really an, uh, my cup runneth over. So one of them is, uh, is the principal bass. In other words, the, the, every section in an orchestra has a principal. The, like the first violinist is the principal violinist. The first violist is principal viola. So I have this new friend in my life who is the principal, uh, bass in a major orchestra. I, I can't say which. I would normally, but because of the story, it wouldn't work. So we were talking just last night as it happened, uh, as he was driving back from, uh, symphony that, uh, they had performed. And he, so I, I, I was looking up. The, his, his number 2 and number 3 players in his orchestra on, on bass. Said, so tell me about them. And he said, well, one is a sweetheart. I love that guy. And another guy is like playing with the devil every night. The guy has just been horrible, uh, until about 2 years ago when, and he's not terrific, but he's less horrible. And I'm thinking, you know, who, who hasn't worked with a difficult person? Isn't it a great, uh, this is a sidebar to my talk, but isn't it a nice thing to wanna be easy? Wouldn't that be, if everybody aspired to be easy in people's lives, world would be, uh, another, another example of the world would be better. All right. By the way, I now have, uh, I have my play on words. So you've all heard happy wife, happy life. So I, I, I came up with a new one to add to it, and that is rational spouse, happy house. So I, I don't want to, I don't want to cast any burdens on any couples here, but I just thought I'd throw that out and alienate a handful of you while doing so. But anyway, uh, back to this. So easy, easy's a very, is a good thing, but my Uh, my, my theme is, wow. So I consciously said I want to be easy and I worked at it. I'm working at it now. I, I don't think it's, I'm, I'm not a hero for it. It's not the hardest thing in the world, but I'm very conscious of wanting to do that. Just be an easy father, an easy father-in-law. And then the, then the epiphany hit me. We work at what we want to be. So the most, one of the most, if not the most important questions you could ever ask yourself is, what do you want to be?

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

I got the chills. It's so big. It's so simple. And I never thought of it. It's so amazing that it just hit me. What do you, what do I want to be? The only time the question is asked Is when we're kids and adults say, so, you know, when, when I was a kid is, what do you want to be when you grow up? Since so many people don't grow up now, they don't add when you grow up. So they just go, what do you, what do you want to be? Right? It, it, it's the most normal question to ask a young person. What do you want to be? Everyone knows that it means what job do you want to do? So I want to be, oh, I want to be a doctor. I want to be a lawyer. I want to be an airplane pilot. I want to be a fireman. I want to be a policeman. I want to be whatever it is I want to be. That's, so that's a big problem because the only thing we think of when we think, what do I want to be, is what profession I'll work at. That's, it's, this is a calamity and I don't overstate things. It's a calamity. Yeah.

What?

So here is a, here is a radical, uh, uh, in fact, my column, which I, I sent in today because I'm, I don't work on it. It's due on Mondays, but tomorrow's Rosh Hashanah. I'm not going to work on it. So I wrote it today and it's, I sent it in. It is on this subject. What if you told your kid the next time somebody asks you, what do you want to be? Say, I want to be a good person. Just imagine if you said that to your kid. The next time someone asks you, what do you want to be? Say, I want to be a good person. First of all, I would do, you remember Candid Camera where they would, you know, video people who didn't realize there was a camera present? I would do I would love to have a candid camera for 100 adults hearing different adults hearing a kid say, um, yeah, I want to be a good person. How do you think, I don't know the answer. How would the average adult react? They, they might think this kid's nuts. This is a, this kid is one weirdo. Or they might say, no, no, no, no, I, I don't mean that. I mean, what do you want to, what do you want to do for a living? And then the kid will say, well, but you didn't ask me that. You didn't ask what I want to do for a living. You asked, what do I want to be? This would, this would be such a sweeping change in children's lives and in adults' lives. But we'll, I'll, I'll go back to children later. Let's just talk about you as an adult, me as an adult. What do you want to be? I, I, I submit we don't ask the question. It hasn't been thought of it in those terms since we thought of what we'll do for a living. What do you want to be? So I, I would like you, when, when you have the, I think it's a great project. I'd like you to write 5 things that you want to be. It, it will, you will, it will really tax your mind. You, I promise you, listen, I didn't think of this. Except for the easy, easy father-in-law. I never thought of it. And I think of this stuff for a living. I get paid to think of this stuff. It's not something, it's just, we don't think of that. What do I want to be? Wow. Well, but I already am. I, I do this for a living. I'm a teacher. I'm, I'm this. So for example, so what do you want to be? So if people are honest, It would be very interesting to see what you might write. And by the way, you might write, for example, you want to be rich. Okay. I'm not condemning that, by the way. I'm, I'm, after all, you have 5, you have 5 choices. So if rich is one of them, write it down. But, but, but write down, by the way, one thing, if I ask kids, oh, what beyond, uh, beyond what they'll do for a job? What do you want to be? It is astonishing how many say famous. And, and, uh, I, I don't, I don't, I don't believe that I, I can talk any little kid out, out of thinking that's important. Uh, I know so many famous people and I, I'll tell you this, I think fame has screwed up more people Uh, than proportionately than heroin. It's when you see what fame does to, to people who get, they don't know how to handle it. They're not prepared for it. And, and, and it just, it destroys them as, as, as a person. And, and, and if you're not destroyed, it certainly doesn't make you. I have fame. So what? Do you go to bed thinking, whoa, I'm going to bed with Dennis Prager?

Wow.

God, am I lucky. What a night. The whole thing cracks me up. To this day, when people say, oh, my favorite, you will love this. So my favorite is, this happens a fair amount of time. So I, I, I live on airplanes, so my stories are always airplane. So I sit in first class. I, otherwise I don't go. Uh, and, uh, and anyway, so I'm in first class, so therefore I'm the first on the plane and then everybody else is coming on. So it, it's almost inevitable that some people will say hello. They see me in the first. So the first person says, oh, Dennis Prager. Wow. Great to see. I can't believe we're on the same flight. Okay. And I'm, and I'm, I'm very touched by anybody who says hello. It never bothers me. I'm very touched. The person next to me, I, I, I watch their body language. So obviously they look over and they see I'm being greeted by a stranger, but the first person, they just assume it's a friend who came on board. But if the second person goes, oh, Dennis Prager, wow, I can't believe I'm— so then they, they have a look and they're debating whether they should say anything to me. And if they do, this is one of my favorite moments in life. They go, excuse me, are you famous? Which is one of the most funny questions a human being could ask. There were so many answers to that. One of them is clearly not. You, you don't know who the hell I am. The, the very notion that you're asking, are you famous and don't know who I am, precludes my being that famous. I mean, I, I, but then I have a really wonderful, precise answer. I go, yes, among all those who know me. So then, and they, then they think about that for a while. That was, So anyway, kids want to be famous. Okay, so fine. Ask your kids to make a list. 5 things you want to be. They can't write astronaut and, and, and doctor and teacher and fireman and all of that. Maybe they will, but it, it's, but I, this is really dedicated. As much as I want us to tell kids to answer other things, it's dedicated to you. I want you to make a list. What do you want to be? I only had one, an easy in-law. Then it occurred to me, gee, what do I want to be? It's not a, it's not a simple question. So here's some suggestions on what you might want to write on your list. For example, clearly you want to be happy. And I'll have something to, I have something to say about all of these. That is sort of another punchline to all of this. That's a perfectly legit, I, I want you, in fact, I want people to be happy. How about this though? Think about this. Would you put this on your list? You would like to strongly believe in God. Interesting one though, because I'll bet, I'll bet half of you are between agnostic and believer. That's a good one. That is a very good one. I think you, I think you should all put that on your list. I, I would like, I would put it on my list. I mean, I, I, I probably believe in God stronger than most, but, uh, I, I have my doubts. Who doesn't have their doubts? I mean, it, I don't, I never met anyone who didn't, which is okay, by the way. It's, it's, it's, it's. The name of the Jewish people is Israel. It means struggle with God. You can, you can struggle. It's okay. In fact, God expects us to. Well, and of course, a good person. Why don't you put that down? Would you put that down? I want to be a good person. Okay. How's this one? I want to be wise. If a thou— if I gave this to 1,000 Americans, maybe one would write wise. But it's in some ways the most important thing you could write, 'cause you can't be good without wisdom. That's, that's a huge topic unto itself. And where did I learn that? From Jewish tradition. There were 4 children at the Passover Seder, right? 4 children. The, the, there is the wise, the evil, the one who was simple, and the one, uh, who, uh, does not know how to ask questions. As a kid, I remember thinking, where's the good kid? If there's an evil kid or bad kid, where's the good kid? There's no good kid at the table. It took me till recently, recently to realize the good kid is the wise kid. You can't be good if you're not wise. So it, it just jumped over. Good doesn't exist without wise. Wisdom is the key to goodness. How many people would put, I want to be a wise person? Almost no one. That's why I, I thought this is so important. What do you wanna be? People don't know what they wanna be. I, I'm in that category. I, I, I didn't know until I prepared this, I didn't know what I would write. And it only occurred to me cuz I knew I wanted to be easy and as a, as a father-in-law. And that's When the next, this is the next part of this talk. So here's the beauty of this. You will be what you want to be. That's why it's so important to want to be something. If you, virtually all of you here, Have reached some degree of success in life, either you, the person you're married to, or in, in some way or other.

Why?

Because you wanted to be. There were doctors in this room. It's most, it's a dramatic example cuz it takes longer to be a doctor than anything else. Okay? There were doctors in this room. You are only a doctor because you wanted to be a doctor and did everything required. to be one. Whatever it is you wanted to be, you pursued it pretty avidly. That's why I want you to want to believe in God more strongly. If you really do, you will pursue it the way you pursued your profession. And that's the only way we will do anything in life is if we want to be X. Then we will be X. That's the amazing thing. Not because I don't believe in the power of positive thinking. It has nothing to do with positive thinking. It has to do with reality. You are what you are because you wanted to be it. You wanted to be married, you got married. You wanted to have children unless biology prevented it. You had children, sometimes 12. Am I right? Is it 12? Do I, I got it right? Correct?

Yes.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

For a short devotional, we would love to introduce you to The Salvation Army's 1-minute podcast, Heartbeat. New episodes drop every Tuesday and Thursday.

One of the biggest questions we carry as human beings is, what happens next? What will heaven be like? The Bible gives us incredible promises about eternity. We know that through Jesus, That death isn't the end. We know there will be no more pain, no more suffering, and that we will be with God. But it's interesting that the Bible doesn't give us every detail about heaven. And maybe that's intentional. Maybe God didn't reveal everything because he doesn't want us spending our lives only looking forward to the next one. He wants us to live this one. Jesus said, I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. We don't have to fear the future Because God holds eternity, but we also don't have to miss the beauty of the life he has given us right now. Live fully, love deeply, trust God with what comes next.

For more episodes of Heartbeat, visit salvationarmyradio.org.

Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Think about it. Everything that you've done, You've wanted to be. So the list of what you want to be is unbelievably important because if you really want to be it, you will be it. You want to be happy? Write it down. Then you will do what the founders of this country wrote, pursue happiness. I want people to pursue happiness. It's a beautiful pursuit. Think about it. Who would you rather be with? People who pursued happiness or who, people who pursued misery? I mean, it's a stupid question. It's so obvious the answer. You, you wanna be with people who pursue happiness. Well, they wanna be with you. That's why this list is, is so important. What you write, if you mean it, if you really mean it, Then you'll pursue it. When you think of how much work has gone into, uh, being a lawyer or being a businessman or being a doctor or being a teacher, I mean, staggering amount of work that has gone into it. It's because you wanted to do it. But is that the only thing you wanted to be? A professional? That's it. That's a pretty narrow life. That's all you, if all you are is a doctor, even if you're the greatest doctor in the world, I mean, that's great for the rest of the world because you're such a great doctor. But it's not great for your spouse. It's not great for you. It's not great for your kids. And once again, it's not great for you. And what's going to happen when you retire? Then, then what? If your meaning comes from your profession, what happens when you retire? You have no more meaning. It's a, it's a big danger, I'm sure, with a lot of people. And I, my heart goes out to them. I, I, I get it. This is a very big deal. What do you want to be? So I suggest to you, happy, a believer in God, a good person, a wise person. And I have a, a 4th and 5th. You should want to be a good spouse. If you really want to be a good spouse, it's, you, you probably could be. And, uh, listen, I've been divorced. I, I am no holier than anybody here. I know from good marriage and bad marriage, life's tough. I get it. But it's better to be married to someone who wants to be a good spouse than someone who doesn't give it any thought. Let's put it that way. Just as it's better to be, uh, a daughter-in-law to a father-in-law who wants to be an easy father-in-law than one who doesn't want to be an easy father-in-law. It's the way it works. It's, it's, it's, it's. You, you want to be happy? So I'm not going to give you a happiness hour here. That's, I devote plenty of time to ways to, to become happier. But the first thing you have to do is want to be happy. You know what was one of the shocks that I learned through the happiness hour? 20 years of doing an hour a week on happiness. Not everybody wants to be happy. I was shocked. I, not many things have shocked me on the happiness hour. That one did it. I, I, 'cause I raised it once. I said, I assume everybody wants to be happy. Is that true? And then people would call up, my sister doesn't wanna be happy. My husband doesn't wanna be happy. I don't understand it. That's to me like saying, I, I, I don't want cake. I, I, I, I, I can't relate to that concept. Uh, don't wanna be happy. Uh, it, but, but there are such people. Uh, I remember speaking on happiness at, uh, at a very major prep, uh, school in, in, in the LA area where, you know, Oodles of kids go to Harvard and Yale and Princeton and so on. And I spoke on happiness. It was amazing how many teachers hated my lecture, hated it, because I said it's a, it's a moral obligation to try to be happy. One guy, the teachers were not supposed to ask questions, just the students, but they couldn't resist because they were so angry at my talk. And one teacher gets up and goes, You don't understand. You don't understand how valuable depression and sadness are. And I said, you're right. I don't. I fully admit I don't know how valuable they are. He said, we would have almost no great art if people were happy. Think of Mahler. He gave Mahler as the example. The joke is the guy picked the wrong guy. I know a lot of music. I, you know, in fact, I said, sir, would you like me to recite the keys of the first 9 symphonies of Mahler. I, I'm aware of my Mahler. And a guy who writes a resurrection symphony is not, he is not necessarily depressed. And then the symphony ends on a tremendously high note. And, and the 4th symphony is very happy. The 1st symphony is very happy. I'm sorry. It just, it just is that way. Yes, he wrote, he wrote Kinder Totenlieder. Yes. Uh, which I knew just even saying that the guy felt, oh my God, I can't believe I started with this guy. This stuff gives me, you have no, you have no idea what joy this stuff gives me. So, which it means songs on the death of children. You're not a happy dude if you write songs on the death of children. I fully acknowledge that, but it doesn't matter. I mean, when Beethoven wrote happy and sad symphonies, had you asked, I, I just read a 1,000-page biography of Beethoven. And, and believe me, I really do believe, had somebody said to Beethoven, Hey, listen, I got a pill. You'll be happier. Would you take it? Of course he would take it. Do you think he wouldn't have written great music? This notion you have to be unhappy to, to, to produce great art. Bach was happy. He, he's the greatest composer who ever lived. I, it, it's just, it's nonsense. But anyway, uh, people, it's good. So write happy. Next. Here's the thing. Here's the punchline. I gave it earlier. I'm giving it again. Once you establish this is what you want to be, then you have to work at being it. So you have to work at being happy. That's a big part of my life. But you also, you have to work at being a believer in God. See, people think, I don't know when this developed, people think Happiness happens. They also think faith happens. That's what they think. Oh, you know, I, I don't know if I believe in God. You know, sort of hasn't appeared to me. People don't understand there is nothing worthwhile that you, that just comes. Nothing. It doesn't happen. Happiness has to be worked at. It's not, oh, I'll, I'll, I'll be happy. One day, uh, because my, you know, my kid just got married, I'll be happy. Okay. What do you do the next day? You have, you have, you don't have thousands of children to get married. This is critical. You, you can't sit back in life. You must pursue what you want to be. You want to be happy, pursue it. You want to, you want to, to have God in your life, you have to pursue it. It's not going to happen. To you. God will not appear to you in some vision. You have to work at it. That's, that's why, and, and to a certain extent, that's why you're here. Even whether you consciously realized it or not, that is part of why you're here. That's why I'm here. It's why, why I work so hard to make this possible. I work at faith. I was not given the gift of unquestioning faith that, and, and some people have it and it is a gift. That's fine. But I don't have that gift. I work at it because I know how important it is to have God in my life, to have faith in God, because otherwise it's all a bad joke and I don't want it to all be all a bad joke. And I know it's a deeper life to have God in it. Tomorrow we'll talk about that in, in, in the context of Judaism. You got it. So you, you, you want, you want to be, you want to believe in God? Work at it. You want to be a good person? Work at it. You want to be a wise person?

Work.

How do you, how do people work to gain wisdom? The source of wisdom in the Western world was the Bible. How many people study Bible today? And I mean it. I've, I've asked on my radio show, I've said, if you don't get your wisdom from the Bible, tell me where you get it from. You know what people answered? From life experience. That means everybody reinvents the wheel every life. What's the use of reading anything of any human being who preceded you? That's the reason you read great works, so that you get a head start of wisdom. And if you really have all your wisdom is from life experience, what, you have no wisdom till 70? Why would we want to give the vote to 18-year-olds? Right? If wisdom comes only from life experience, why on God's earth would you give an 18-year-old a vote? Which, by the way, I don't think they should get, get anyway. I didn't even think when I was 18 I should have the vote. But it, but isn't that true? What do you mean life experience? Yeah, life experience helps. What about the experience of those who lived before me? who were smarter than me, who wrote down what, what life is about. That's what I believed. I have great admiration for Alan Dershowitz. I really do, because he's courageous, and courage is the rarest of the good traits. By the way, I have a lecture, uh, now that I just thought of it, I have a lecture on how to try to develop courage. So I realized there's, that's, that's a good one. That should be the 5th. I want to be courageous. That would be a great 5th one. I have been in dialogue with him for 20 years, different parts of the country. And I remember the first night it was at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan. And the subject was, should Jews be liberal or conservative? Or Democrat or Republican, whatever it was. So we differed on everything. And then, uh, I looked at the audience and I said, ladies and gentlemen, I figured out the biggest difference between Professor Dershowitz and myself. When Professor Dershowitz disagrees with the Torah, he says he is right and the Torah is wrong. When I disagree with the Torah, I say the Torah is right and I am wrong. And then he looked at the audience and said, for the first time tonight, I agree with Dennis Prager. I, I really, that, that was really it. And it's like people today who, the founders, what did the founders know? If we disagree with the Constitution, we'll just change the Constitution. They weren't wiser. People don't want to be wise. They may want to be compassionate or whatever else, but they want to be woke. But not wise. Finally, with young people, here's some suggestions if you have a grandchild or a child. So, here are some thoughts. Hey kid, what do you want to be? So I gave you a good person. Here are some alter— alternate possible responses. A boy might answer, I want to be a good man. Can you imagine that? Again, I'm as interested in the adult's reaction to the kid who says this, but it, which it, you understand, I want you to understand something. This alone, this is very rare that I would say this, changes a child's life. If you told a child, whenever you're asked, what do you want to be? Don't think in terms of what you want to do for a living. That's a separate question. Answer, I want to be a good man or a good woman. I want to be a good person. How about this? I want to be a good Jew or I want to be a good Christian. Can you imagine that? I mean, that would send most educated people to drinking. They would start drinking. Imagine you met a little, you met a kid. Hey kid, what do you want to be? I'd like to be a good Christian. No, it would horrify them. It would horrify them. If the kid said, I want to be a good pagan. All right, we have a scholarship for you at Princeton.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

For a short devotional, we would love to introduce you to The Salvation Army's 1-minute podcast, Heartbeat. New episodes drop every Tuesday and Thursday.

One of the biggest questions we carry as human beings is, what happens next? What will heaven be like? The Bible gives us incredible promises about eternity. We know that through Jesus, death isn't the end. We know there will be no more pain, no more suffering, and that we will be with God. But it's interesting that the Bible doesn't give us every detail about heaven. And maybe that's intentional. Maybe God didn't reveal everything because he doesn't want us spending our lives God doesn't want us only looking forward to the next one. He wants us to live this one. Jesus said, I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. We don't have to fear the future because God holds eternity, but we also don't have to miss the beauty of the life He has given us right now. Live fully, love deeply, trust God with what comes next.

For more episodes of Heartbeat, visit salvationarmyradio.org.

Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Or how about this? What do you want to be? I want to be a good American. It's inconceivable, isn't it? It's inconceivable to get that. I told my kids, hey boys, I want you to be, I want you to be a good, uh, uh, let's see, what was it?

I don't remember.

It doesn't matter the order. I want you to be a good man. A good Jew and a good American. That's all I want from you. I don't care about your grades. And, and, and the truth is they didn't. Now, unfortunately, one is in Hamas and one is with Hezbollah today, but it's, uh, just kidding in case there are those who don't know that I'm just kidding. Uh, but, uh, that, that's, that's a terrific, that, that's a terrific answer. God, tell your kids this. When somebody asks you that, it'll change their view of life. How about this? I want to be married. I'll tell you that. I'll tell you this. Before 1960, you would've asked a lot of girls in high school, what do you want to be? They wouldn't have said doctor or lawyer. And of course that would be considered, oh, that's the misogyny and sexism of the time. They would have said, I want to be married. So if a girl said that today, she'd be considered a loser. I consider a girl who says that she wants to be married a winner, a total winner. I think it's, I think it's, it's awesome if a girl would acknowledge that. You know what strength it would take today to say, I want to be married? It's a boy would sooner acknowledge he wants to be married today than a girl does. Or how about this? I want to be a father and a husband. What if a kid said that? I want to be a father and husband.

Wow.

You mean even more than a chiropractor? Yeah. Even more than a chiropractor. I did. I wanted to be a father and husband more than I wanted to be anything. Or a mother and wife. I want to be a mother and wife. It's a great list to give to your kids, but you have to believe it. You have to believe. Do you understand? 90%, 99% of American kids of the middle class are raised to want to be one thing. A good student to get into a good college, to get a good job. That's that's what they want to be, and then what do you want to be after that? What's left? That's a worthy topic for a Russia Shana and Yom Kippur.

On tomorrow's Sunday Fireside Chat, there was a some actor.

I don't remember his name, and it's not important. Was leading a vigil at a prison where a man man. a man was about to be executed for murder. And he had him on and he had me on. And that man, he said, oh, Prager, or something like that, you're, what is it, something like licking your lips at the thought of another killing, a bloodshed. I mean, so as if I— I enjoy the idea that people die.

It was—

but that was his mindset, that if you believe some murderer should die, you are a big fan of bloodshed. So it made it clear to me we don't understand each other. So I said to him, I'm just curious, you're having a vigil now outside the prison where the man is about to be executed. Have you ever had a vigil at the home of the murdered? I got no answer.

Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. We want to take just a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. Go to lifeaudio.com to find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network, including shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.

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