I& #39;ve seen some lists going around of "what I achieved in the past decade" - so, let& #39;s discuss achievements that aren& #39;t necessarily connected with material success or with achieving set goals. Moral accomplishments often come with material cost and were not part of our life plan.

Losing my teaching job as a punishment for standing up against bigotry and in defense of intellectual freedom was not part of my life plan but I consider it a significant accomplishment.

I could have kept my mouth shut about Trump. But could I have lived with myself?

Another thing I& #39;ve been doing is trying to work on racism. Ten years ago I would have said "I& #39;m not a racist, I& #39;m Jewish" - now I understand so much more about the ingrained racism that is part of the toxic inheritance of the privilege that goes with my whiteness.