Whatever Happened to...(you know who?)

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