Turned on the computer this morning and stared at my home
page. Nothing interested me. Then went to email, processed a few messages,
dumped several junk pieces. Within a couple of minutes I posted my blog message
for today. (I wrote it yesterday in advance.)
Went back to my home page; still not interested. Went back
to my desktop, spotted the Google icon and clicked on it. Cursor blinking at
me. Blinking. Still blinking.
A name came to mind from far off. 1987 maybe? 26 years ago.
A name of an acquaintance, a colleague, too. Wondered where he was and whatever
happened to him. So I entered his name and followed the links. A lot of them.
Not one related to him.
Got me thinking about a lot of people, then a general
principle. Whatever happens to people once we lose contact with them? Sometimes
it may surprise us to learn that a drudge-like person in our past turned out to
be the executive of an innovative company. The guy’s a multimillionaire now.
Wonder if he still acts like a drudge?
Another person was the belle of the parties and acutely
sharp in her thinking. She is now a grandmother of 4, mom to 2 adult children,
is very satisfied with life and retired in a warm, southern town.
Caught this on the internet this morning:
“I failed my exams in some
subjects but my friend passed. Now he’s an engineer in Microsoft and I am the
owner.
~Bill
Gates”
I doubt that is a real quote but it is a good one for today!
The circumstances in which we knew someone many years ago does not compute
readily to what they are doing today. The person we saw most likely to succeed
may in fact be an abject failure.
And there are many ways to be a success as well as a
failure. A rich person is a failure, in my book, if they are supremely unhappy
or live a mostly unprincipled life. It doesn't matter how much they own if
their stuff owns them and they only enjoy life because they imagine others
thinking of them as being successful.
Conversely, the poorest person may be rich in mind and soul
and feel success beyond our imagination.
I was speaking with a group recently and the subject of
success came up. Most of the younger participants defined success as having
money, a good house, and a nice car. Older people described success in terms of
relationships that matter or an occupation that gave them a sense of
fulfillment.
My hunch is that each person’s definition of success changes
throughout life. What one wishes for because they don’t now have it (home, job,
car, money) is soon replaced with philosophic wants once the material things
are possessed. Material things tend to be transitory. They age, break, get
rundown and worn and are soon forgotten. Other markers of life come to our
attention. For some this is power and influence; others seek status and self
importance. Still others want to keep busy doing something, anything. It makes
them feel engaged and useful.
Trouble is success is what we make it. Often it is the
simplest of things. And staring us in the face. Like love it is found when we aren't looking for it. It presents itself at odd times and places.
Do we notice?
February 12, 2013
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