Today I was back out in the courtyard, strolling through the sunshine and brisk air. The word I had on my board was SUCCESS along with a few associated questions soliciting students to tell me their general ideas/definitions of success and how we can recognize it in ourselves and others. The response was overwhelming.
The first few students to say
anything to me mentioned being millionaires (shocking). I turned it around on
them by asking is it okay to be a millionaire no matter how you got the money?
They immediately recognized the difference between starting your own small
business and living a life of crime. Then they went on to mention how it would
be important to raise a family, live a good life, get an education, et cetera.
The best reaction I had today
started with one student. He told me—of course—that he had to have: 1) a huge
mansion; 2) be a billionaire (I guess
millionaire is not enough for him); 3) be famous; 4) have a model wife. I would
have pressed him to explain what he meant by “model,” but I figured he meant
one who displays the latest fashions rather than some notion of perfection insofar as who or what a wife is supposed to be. After he loudly proclaimed these to
practically everyone within earshot, I asked him where he got such notions and
was about to ask if reality television and American popular culture have distorted
his (or our) views of success before his friends all started chiming in. They
told him that that is not the only form of success; they mentioned accomplishing
personal goals and dreams, living to the best of one’s abilities, and exceeding
the expectations of ourselves and others. By the time I left, 5 or 6 students
were discussing success with each other. And that certainly made today a
success for me.
How about you? How would you define
success? Are there certain universal forms of success that people might agree
upon regardless of culture and context? Why or why not? How do you recognize
success in yourself? In others? Do you try to promote success by the way you
live? Why is success important? Do we have to be successful at everything, or
is it okay to succeed in only certain endeavors?
Please leave your
comments and questions for others.
It bums me that you have a class during my lunch. I would've told you my opinion in person rather via electronic devices. To me succes is accomplishing something, anything. From small things like math homework, to training and dedicating your life to a certain cause and having that cause be realized. Lets say for example a teacher I know dedicates his entire life to evoking his students to think about life in a philosophical manner. I would say success would be if even just one student of his started asking questions about life and creation and whatnot. Success may be small, but the feeling is huge. How could you not love the feeling of relief and accomplishment after having something you've been dedicated to cone to be realized?
ReplyDeleteKorey,
DeleteSorry for getting back to you so late. I appreciate the kind words, and I concur wholeheartedly. Even if a few students or random people stop by and share their own questions and comments, I am completely thrilled.
As you said rather succinctly, "success may be small, but the feeling is huge." It is certainly satisfying to put your head and heart into an endeavor and see it come to fruition. Perhaps even more importantly, we must start small. Success seems to me to be a constant work in progress; if we begin with more immediate, attainable goals, the results are not only reassuring, they are self-sustaining and only push us on to pursue our life's work, whatever that may end up being.
Again, thanks for sharing, Korey. I wish I could be out in the courtyard during both lunches to engage even more students.
Enjoy the weekend, sir!
To me success is to acomplish something that you've been working so hard on. For example I play soccer to me success means after the game when its all over I think to myself did I leave every thing that I had on the field. Even though if I lose success is when you know that you won't regret anything that you did that you did all that you could've done.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reply, Anonymous!
DeleteYou bring up a key point about how we should judge whether or not we are successful: EFFORT. Effort is often the one aspect that will make our break our success. And, as you wisely noted, so long as we are willing to give our absolute best effort, we will feel as if we succeeded, regardless of the outcome. Success in many ways is a personal measuring stick and the only person who has a say in whether or not success was achieved is yourself.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment!
Success is being an outlier, in whatever it is that you enjoy or have a passion for.
ReplyDelete