The Moral Bucket List

Written as an extended personal reflection and in an informal tone, Brooks’s “The Moral Bucket List” meditates on a topic that people have been writing about since ancient Greece: Living a Meaningful Life. Brooks is a well-known American journalist, author, and cultural commentator whose professional success is evident in the fact that “The Moral Bucket List” appeared in his regular New York Times column and reached a wide audience.

Despite his prominence, Brooks raises questions about the conventional meanings of success based on career achievement, money, and status. His answer to the millennia-old question of how to live a meaningful life is that those who live the best lives are those who cultivate their moral selves. These individuals have undergone a Journey of Moral Education, where education refers not to a formal curriculum of study but to a process of continual maturation and growth. Consequently, these people, who “radiate an inner light” (Paragraph 1), know how to conquer their intrinsic human self-centeredness, form intimate relationships of deep love, and commit themselves to causes larger than themselves, all of which allows them to touch the “deepest meaning of life and the highest moral joys” (Paragraph 6).