The Blogger SAT Challenge

To many people, a measure of success comes from material gains, or a position of power, or the influence they can exert. All of these are obvious and justifiable yardsticks of a successful life or career. However, are they the best way to pass or fail someone's life?

Booker T. Washington offers an alternate view - that the best way to rank a success is to look at what a person has had to overcome in life. This view makes the struggle the central question. But is it more fair or honest than the more tangible rewards?

I would say yes.

For some people in today's society, it is almost impossible for them to fail and lose the physical rewards, or influence, or position gained. Think of how many 'starlets' and 'stars' are out there who make daily fools of themselves, yet they are, by the tangible markers, a success. Paris Hilton, to name one, is a success by failing on camera at many tasks ordinary people do day to day without thought. For another example, look to sports. There are several people held up as successes (if not role models) who would be judged completely opposite if they could not throw, hit, run, pass or shoot. Look to business, where power and money flow. For every person thought of as a true leader and a true success, such as Bill Gates and Jack Welch, there are tens who coast along doing nothing more or less than running a business and in many cases doing that badly.

All of the above examples, judged by the positions obtained and rewards gained, are successes. Only a few of them would be welcomed by most people as next door neighbors and dear friends.

On the flip side, there are people who had to struggle to make enough money to eat because they take care of elderly parents, or handicapped kids, or because of medical conditions. They may work in a job where they have to wear nametags and take orders, they may be completely powerless, and they may be unskilled if not nearly useless in the workforce. If the starlets, sports stars and business figures are at the top of a tangible chart of success, these people wouldn't even be ranked.

But people would respect them, seeing they work harder for better reasons. Not to get the newest model of Mercedes-Benz, but to keep the kids in clothes. Not to argue over whether they deserve an extra million for stealing bases, but to make sure their mom doesn't have to go to a nursing home. Not to demand a stock reward for not bankrupting the company, but to stay at home and give up things so their children will be safe.

There are exceptions to the rules, of course. There are successful people who also struggle to do better by others, and there are unsuccessful ones who are just as spoiled and selfish as the worst successful ones. But it comes down to something more than a bank account, or how many people answer your call. It comes down to how you handle yourself in everyday life, which may be rougher and harsher for you.

A small success to a people in tough times is almost always worth more than a large success to someone who has money, power, and influence to spare. I agree with Booker T. Washington.

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