Most bucket lists include things like skydiving or bungee jumping, but I want to do things that leave a mark, because people are not remembered for the things they never did. To back up my claim that my bucket list is unique, I would like to give evidence. It would be worth my while to save a life as a successful doctor before I die. To be a successful doctor, I would have to go to school, and I would love it to be an Ivy League school. When I am done with all that, I am going to travel the world and see and do things most people only dream about. I am going to live before I die, because I refuse to die before I have lived.

I like to aim big, and to me, an Ivy League school is big. I want to graduate from a school like Harvard or Yale because I want to know what it feels like to be the best; to be able to look at the wall and see my certificate hanging there, stating to anyone observant enough to look, that I, Hope, did not just go to school and get my credentials, but that I went to the school and got my credentials. Nobody comes from a place like that only to go nowhere. For me, it could open so many doors to success that there would be no way I could fail, including the door to my long pursued medical career. It may take a lot of time and resource, but it is time and resource I can afford with a little bit of hard work. With the help of my grades and sports (and my ethnicity), I could qualify for scholarships that could be my ride to school. Whatever I do to get there will be well worth it, but just because I am willing to work hard and wait for this particular goal does not mean it is the last thing on my list. Oh no, I am far from done.

It is hard to believe that a couple of television shows could influence my life in such a way that it has, but alas, it did. I started watching shows like Scrubs, Untold Stories Of The ER, and House, M.D., and I was hooked. After that, I was drawn to all things medical. I started reading any medical texts I could get my hands on and I could not get enough. The more I was exposed to these things, the more interested I became, and the more my dream of becoming a big, successful doctor and saving lives grew. I can truthfully say that on this goal, I will not give up, but everyday my determination will expand until this gossamer web of dreams becomes an adamant reality. Once again, I must remind the reader of this list that this is not the end, for this list is unrelenting until I breathe my last breath.

I would like to be the one who came, the one who saw, not the one who wished they had. I want to see everything my eyes can take, and I want to learn every language my brain can hold. I want to travel the world. On this seemingly endless trip, I would most likely look forward to New York and Japan the most. Forget about the Statue of Liberty. I want to visit the National 9/11 Memorial ,which lies on the exact spot the disaster of 9/11 took place, and learn every detail I can because like Mahatma Gandhi said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” The Japanese culture has always interested me and to learn its language and culture in Japan would be a great feat for me. I want to experience all the cultures, speak all the languages, and see everything.

In the event that I graduate from an Ivy League school, become a world-renowned doctor, and travel the world, I will not sit down and wait to die, but I will continue to make the most of the world. Having a bucket list does not mean I am getting ready to die; it means I am trying to live. I have much more to do after that, like maybe writing a book or creating a clothing line. A bucket list is not a bunch of things to do so that you can die; it is a list to urge you to live and not just be. It is a reminder to anyone who took the time to make one that you have to die sometime and you can only live once. As I change my paths, I change my destinations, and this bucket list is a list of my destinations. Like Chuck Palahniuk once said, “We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever. It is to create something that will,” and by reaching these goals, I am creating a legend and leaving my mark: a mark that will live forever.