In our school uniforms, my best friend and I argued. He had shared that his one life goal was to help his friends and family be happy. I narrowed my eyes and disagreed - my mission was to help the maximum number of people around the world achieve the greatest possible happiness. He called me idealistic, I labelled him unambitious.
10 years later, we reunited in a sunny park. While we sat next to the gurgling stream with our tiny nets, I sheepishly apologised to him - it wasn’t possible to try to save the world and one had to take care of family and friends too. He laughed and said that he had changed his mind too - my goal had been a stretch but I was now on track to give back more to our community.
We caught a small fish together that day, and let it slip back into the cool water.