Recently, I was verbally attacked by a person whose name I won't mention, as I would like to move away from that incident. However, I thought about the things she said a long while, trying to figure out why she would attack me in the manner she did, when I've never done anything to her, and why she considered herself “successful” and considered me to be “trash”.
It finally occurred to me that she was attacking me because she had gathered more “stuff” than I have, and she felt that having more stuff made her successful. By that, I mean she has a nicer house, a nicer car, and perhaps a bunch of nick-knacks that fills her house, as well as claiming higher education with her “MBA” which she called a “Master of Bachelors in Accounting” (I always thought an MBA was a “Masters in Business Administration”). After meditating about it, I was still puzzled - was this person truly “successful”? Also, since everyone wants to be “successful”, are we supposed to follow her path to success?
I came to the conclusion that Success is not a destination - Success is a Journey! Perhaps the person to whom I mentioned (that had attacked me), considers herself a success in that she has accomplished her goal - that is, she was able to marry an American who pulled her out of poverty and apparently loves her enough to give her things to make her life comfortable and even luxurious, compared to her former life. But, if a person stops there, and doesn't have a new goal to reach, where is the success? Is she content to wallow in her exalted place, and watch others struggle? Hmm, perhaps I can understand her problem now - maybe she sees these people working hard to achieve success, and she is afraid she will be passed up. Her success has turned into a failure in that she is no longer growing, and she thinks she can only maintain her elevated position by belittling others - that is ultimately the saddest thing I can think of! If only she would use the same amount of effort in reaching new goals and helping others - then I could truly admire her for her achievements!
True success is not just obtaining riches - as a matter of fact, it doesn't even have to do anything with riches... true success is working towards a goal, and using the talents that our Wonderful God in Heaven has given us to obtain that goal - and at the same time, helping others to reach THEIR goals! As that great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said, ”If you want to succeed, just help enough other people to succeed.” And when a goal is reached, have another goal to work toward! The Journey of Success never ends, as there will always be others to help along the way.
So, to all of my friends, let me say how much I admire most of you for your true success -that is, God has opened a door of opportunity for you in allowing you to come to this Land of Opportunity, and you have taken full advantage of this blessing! You are working hard to better yourselves and the people around you, and I applaud you for this.
However, for those who have received this blessing and choose to “sit on their laurels”, as if coming here alone is the epitome of success, and you can only insult those who work hard to make their own lives as well as the lives of others better, my heart breaks for you. You just do not understand what True Success is, and because of that, you may never know True Happiness.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:16
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