I want to be a mensch.
A person having admirable characteristics, such as fortitude and firmness of purpose: “He radiates the kind of fundamental decency that has a name in Yiddish; he's a mensch” (James Atlas).
It's not only Yiddish speakers who are advised to be a mensch, act like a mensch and associate with mensches — the word has made its way into mainstream English. It is used to great effect by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman:
"'Be a mensch,' my parents told me. Literally, a mensch is a person. But by implication, a mensch is an upstanding person who takes responsibility for his actions.
The people now running America aren't mensches."
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