I remember any piece of music I have ever sung. With just a runthrough or two, I am ready to sing it in concert. This memory is getting a bit weaker – I not longer accidentally memorize music as quickly as I used to. But it is still pretty freaky, even to me.

I cannot recall names or faces - I am infamous for forgetting not only the names of my kids, but that of my wife as well.

Every time I have a clever thought I write it down. Then I can safely forget it. But it is always frustrating when I encounter a question I think I once answered, but I may not remember my *awesome* answer!

Because my memory for language is poor, I did not become a rabbi. Because my memory for people is poor, I could not become a politician. And because I remember having self respect, I did not become a lawyer.

So yes, the handicap has steered my life, and I have no regrets.

I try to be careful to use metrics that are qualititative, and not quantitative. I agree that there is no "score" to keep.

Wow. That is quite a distillation. Do Christians here agree that it is true?

For Jews, works (including words and deeds) are the only thing that matter. G-d gives us the limited-time-only opportunity to complete the world, to act as His agents on this world. Since we are made in His image, we have divine powers that we can use for good or ill. It is the choices we make that determine whether our lives are well spent.

But at every conscious moment you are making choices. Those choices are driven by what you value.

And if one does not consciously make choices, but merely "lives"? One is reminded of Socrates: "The unexamined life is not worth living."

The very next line is: "Now, go and learn!"

Somehow people who prefer the easy fix never remember the punch line.

Oddly enough, for all that we get the reputation as being "chosen", Judaism has no problem with non-Jews being righteous, having special relationships with our Creator, and achieving great things with their lives.

But we are not as theologically committed to the notion of heaven anyway. It is not an idea found in the plain text of the Torah, and we are frequently reminded by our Rabbis that "the dead cannot praise you".

What matters is what we do. Being religious helps - but it is neither a guarantee of a positive result, nor the only path to it.

Anyone who reads People Magazine, and/or dreams about the home/yacht/airplane/fame of the Rich&Famous as the culmination of their life goals?

Think about lottery winners: the reason they are usually miserable has to do with the combination of no real experiential limits AND no remaining metric for accomplishment.

None of those commandments are experiential. They are all actions, in thought, word or deed.

Midget Faded Rattlesnack writes

"Sod my accomplishments so far. What matters most right now is making the best of the life I have left."

Actually, I would argue that this is ALWAYS the right perspective. We cannot change the past. But we can make better choices right now.

When we no longer look ahead, we are no longer engaging and growing.

Pugshot, I return to the Torah example. When G-d splits the sea, the Jews remain unchanged. The experience did not improve them - it just gave them a swell story to share with their kids.

Improvement only came when they constructively engaged. Growth demands personal involvement and commitment, not merely experiential recreation.

Larry3435 A full life contains accomplishments and experiences, and also relationships (which don't seem to fall into either category).

Relationships are accomplishments. Loving-kindness is a magnificent thing.

None of us can achieve our full potential. But choosing not to accomplish with the potential we have is a great shame.

I am not judging the way in which other people value their own accomplishments. I recognize, wholeheartedly, that everyon can, and should, make their own choices. Indeed, when we act freely, we are acting as our Creator wants us to.

My judgment is on those who measure their lives by what they have seen or enjoyed - what happens  to  them - instead of what they, themselves, actively achieve. We were not put here merely to live. Any cockroach can do that.

We mourn those who die young especially because they have not had as long a time on this earth to do good. 

When someone has lived a full and good life, the funeral is entirely different in tone - as it should be.

For what we can DO with our lives! It is the heart of what I am trying to ay in my post.

What we DO matters: to our families, our friends, our country, our society. And, of course, to G-d.

If we choose to merely live life as a bottle rides on the ocean - for the experience-  then we are not independent actors at all. And our lives are a waste.

This is the beauty of being made in the image of our creator! Each of us has a different metric for what is good or beautiful, and we make choices accordingly. There IS no linear scale with which to compare the music of Mozart and the art of Van Gogh. And there should be none!

The best outcomes do not come from central planning. They come from independent actors independently pursuing their own goals.

Mama Toad writes:

Such people may not accomplish many things -- their accomplishments may seem like nothing compared to, say, a good marriage of decades. 

Everyone has their own ability to give and to do.

Their lives are as valuable as my own or yours, however, in the eyes of the Lord. Isn't this the intrinsic worth -- not the value of accomplishments but simply the human being himself? I think the value comes from our importance in the eyes of the Lord -- whether or not we accomplish anything of note to others.

Our lives have no value in the eyes of G-d. Otherwise we would not have a world in which every life is guaranteed to end in death.

The Torah makes it clear that G-d values our decisions, our choices. And through those choices, our lives matter. But those who do not make real choices (I reckon it is >90% of the planet) merely live and die, like animals.

The Torah commands us to value every life because we are not all-knowing, and we must believe that everyone (or even their descendants) is capable of Good. The next  choice is always the most important.