It was a cold winter night in New York and David Webb went out to the weekly Lion's Den casino night. When he got there it was an amazing sight. People from all over the great city of New York were there, however a man such as himself could only sit in the front room. Apparently the families of NY had their own special backroom games with higher stakes and better drinks. It was what he expected from a great city such as New York. Anyway he began talking to some of the other people who were fresh off the boat and began speaking to them about the old country and their plans for their new life. Some of them looked like they had never been in a city before like the man who dressed like a potato.

"I'm going to be a powerful man once I get adjusted to the new world","I'll be powerful and people will fear and respect me.", and my personal favorite "I'm going to have a REALLY REALLY BIG... gun." were common phrases heard among the men enjoying cheap booze and low stakes casino games but one person there felt a little different about the subject.

You know all of that sounds great but my father realized in his dieing moments that some goals are meaningless. One of the last things he told me was that while working towards a goal is great you need to be careful what your goal is. He said, "Personal goals are nothing if your personal goals get in the way of the goals that you should really have." I didn't understand what that meant at first but I think I'm starting to understand. If you get tunnel-vision regarding your personal goals you'll neglect things that you truly should be focusing on like building relationships with people, working to benefit your family, and being loyal to your city. The people sitting in that backroom already figured that out and hopefully I can prove that I understand it as well.

After a brief moment of awkward silence, a man starting singing about having his junk in a box while he was carrying what appeared to be a gift-wrapped box in front of his crotch, which lifted the solemn mood in the room. No one knew whether to take that song seriously or not but no one was going to open the box to look.

<em>Finding himself at the Lion's Den Casino night, Tiger overheard a speech being given by David_Webb. Feeling he raised a few good points, he decided to approach the man and give him his own views on the matter</em>

Too often these days we find mafioso are in this world of ours to further themselves. They want to be a leader, they want to have a great gun, they want to be feared, like you said. Now this can be fine and well if used in the right way. However it often isn't. This world of ours has so much more to offer than these personal goals are usually allowing these mafioso. There is great fun to be had, and usually if you work hard for your family, and put the needs of them before your own personal goals, then those goals are more likely to be reached through recognition of your dedication and willingness to help out.

I don't know how others view the matter, I mean having these personal goals at the forefront of your mind could provide that fire, that willingness to take risks that seems to be lacking a lot these days.

I came here to New York with virtually nothing.  I had a few dollars to ease travel.  I came here looking for work, any work, to keep myself off the streets.  I was lucky enough to find a family who will offer me work and protection.  My only goal is show my Don that I am deserving of the faith and protection he has afforded me.  Therefore, his goals, and the goals of our city, are my personal goals.  So far, that seems to be pointing my actions in the right direction.

Personal ambition is nothing to be ashamed of, we should all strive to better ourselves in any way possible.

First should come whoever you work for, and if you do this right, personal achievement follows.

You should always put your family before yourself. However, saying that, if you have a personal gain that will help benefit the family more in the long run, is it good to pursue that goal?

I think you also forget that we are in a buisness, you are employed.

You should be seeking Promotion due to self ambition.

There is one goal in life I have never aimed for, and that was for people to fear me.
It is in my opinion that having friends because they fear you are less trusting than those who love you for who you are..sounds abit sappy I know, but in this world of ours, yes, it's a big advantage being powerful and feared, but I think life lasts alot longer if your liked and loved rather than feared.
As for having a "big gun", indeed, that's something we all want and need to survive, but it takes alot of work and dedication to train such skills and not many people have it in them to put the time in.

My goal in life is to continue what I'm doing now and that is staying loyal to my family and city, anything beyond that is a bonus.

This is an interesting discussion.  I really don't think having personal goals is something negative.  Obviously I'd like my family's personal goals to be in line with our family goals.  For instance,  it certainly doesn't bother me if somebody in my family has a goal of running his or her own family one day.  There are several crewleaders and RH or LHs in our world who were once a part of this family.  I would hope that their goals included getting a crew.  And now, they've achieved those goals.  Others may have goals of wacking hundreds of people.  That's a personal achievement, a personal goal if you will, but one that benefits this family. 

So, as long as those personal goals remain beneficial to the family, I say reach for the stars.  However, if there are personal goals that conflict with your family's goals - then you definitely should abandon those goals for the good of your family. 

And Stragulation - I hope you have loftier goals than those you've listed.  Or at least include so much more in the term "loyal" because being loyal to your family is only one of many characteristics I'm sure your family was hoping for when inviting you to join them.

I think reaching for personal goals is important but its definitely a negative if you neglect other responsibilities while attempting to reach a personal goal. Very few people in this thing of ours gets remembered for what personal goals they have achieved. You may respect someone with lots of kills or someone who can become only a leader of a family but its hardly special anymore to have those personal achievements.

You need to have an ability to put your personal goals aside to help your family reach its goals and make personal relationships with the people around you. No one cares for a man who achieved their personal goals but did it on their own without reaching out to others around him. If you achieve your goals in a way that benefits your family and your city you'll achieve something more than just a personal goal.

Mr Hayes,
I contain many goals in my life with The Lions Den, continued loyalty and respect being on the top 5, I didn't want to sit here listing all my goals to the public as that just seemed unprofessional because what my enemies don't know, can't hurt, eh?

hehe..just kidding, my main goals in life is to aim for leadership under New York, but it's not something I'm going to rush for, at least not till I know I have something "special" to offer the city.