Success

There are a zillion people out there every day searching for possession of that high in the sky word, success. I suppose there are about just as many definitions to it as there are people to define it. It seems so out of reach, so mysterious and glamorous... and so we all just amble around in circles trying to find a path to it....and with most people preferably the quickest, shortest route.

There is nothing wrong with the wish for success in and of itself so much as there is our wanton lust for it and the number of people we are willing to cut down, or morals that we are wont to betray to get it. There is nothing wrong with wanting your peers to admire you. After all no one has ever been excited to be a failure story or read a headline, “Small Town Boy Makes Bad.”

People want success because it is glamorous, we've established that. However let's look at the definition of glamor shall we? Webster's defines glamor still today in the same way:

an exciting and often illusory and romantic attractiveness

Hmmm... so if glamor isn't anything more than a fleeting illusion than what is it that measures success? Well how about money? Can a person really be worth their weight in gold? At the current rate a 6 pound infant would be worth only $107,578.79. That might seem a lot but if that child perished no amount of money could replace it for it's parents. And if you're about my age, weight and size you have to decide which is worse obesity or inflation. So since that's not going to be an excellent scale with which to measure success, we'll move on.

Perhaps success means fame, being larger than life for a bit. Putting one's name up in lights, doesn't that secretly appeal to all of us? How does one measure true fame? I know of History books that have names that I really didn't find very interesting in school and neither did I care to remember after exams. Okay so not a historical figure... perhaps a famous singer is more appealing to most of us, this evidenced by our terrible warbling daily in the shower that really sounds more like cats mating than it does some highly established blues singer.) Alright then a famous singer, perhaps that is success. In 1825 who was the most famous American singer? Anyone remember? Anyone? Me either.

So then what is success? To me true success lies in the blessings I count every day. It lies in the little family I love. Success to me is being content in the situation that I am in and taking comfort that when that situation develops a monkey-wrench then there is a good reason for me to be in that bumpy situation. To me those ups and downs are learning experiences that I will later utilize to help another person in need. To me learning from my mistakes, counting my blessings and loved ones is success. Perhaps it is plain, boring and not all that glamorous but at the end of the day who really needs more?

That's my side of it,

Angel

www.streetlighthalo.com