A Two For One / A Ramble & A Poem: What is Success - (Friday, October 20, 2017)


This morning I started thinking about success and what that means.  It means different things to different people, and I would go one step further to say that the idea of success changes at different stages and times in our lives.  But, what recently caught my attention and got me to thinking about it is that society seems to have a blanket definition of success.  A definition that, instead of motivating individuals to pursue their own success, encourages – or practically demands – that one achieve the kind of success that sprouts from commercialism and greed, and ultimately benefits a puppet master. 

I recently read a book and this quote stuck with me: 
 
“While simply surviving may sometimes not feel like a very nice way to be living, we only realize that surviving is a success and an achievement to be proud of once we are old.  When we are young, we feel we are meant for more obvious triumphs.” 

 I took the above mentioned “obvious triumphs” to be accomplishments such as, a promotion, a big house, a fancy car, expensive clothing and possessions, fame, fortune, glory - all of those things that we are programmed to think we not only want, but need, to be able to call ourselves successful.  I found it interesting to consider that such things were considered the kind of pursuits that the “young” - one lacking in knowledge and experience - would strive for.  These things were defined as “obvious” (easily perceived or marked) triumphs.  The simple word that caught my attention in the definition of the word “obvious” as it refers to my line of thought here is the work marked.  If a success or triumph has been marked it seems very important to me to know who is doing the determining and marking things as triumphs and successes. 

I wonder...  Without the influence of the media and commercialism, what would our value system of success and triumphs look like.  How would they change and what would be the effect on us as individuals, as well as our society locally and globally? 

 
WHAT IS SUCCESS
by Autumn Boyet Stinton (10/20/2018)
 
 
To be successful is to be in the know. 
   I’m only successful if you tell me so? 
 
 
Have I lost my say in my own life?
   Happiness replaced with heartache and strife.
 
 
Images and slogans rule the world. 
   Mind-control commercialism on us unfurled. 
 
 
I’m groomed to fit into a specific mold. 
   Control of my own life I do not hold. 
 
 
Simple is deprived, I must have more.
    Less than my neighbor means I am poor?

 
Influence and power are goal number one. 
   Our heart’s true calling we learn to shun.
 
 
True value in life is lost on most. 
   Striving for what we can flaunt and boast.
 
 
Contorted pride muddies good intent. 
   Greed and selfishness do not relent. 
 
 
We slave, we fight, we wear ourselves down. 
   Only to learn we are a puppet master’s clown.
 
 
Dead to happiness and a dictated fate. 
   A man’s soul doesn’t die, but lays in wait.
 
 
Waiting for the moment to be set free. 
   Gaze into your heart…what do you see?
 
 
Honestly look for your heart’s desire. 
   Leaving behind the materialistic mire. 
 
 
Seek your passion and own individuality. 
   Do not conform to normality. 
 
 
Success is fleeting if it isn’t your own. 
   Look to yourself to make your destiny known.

 

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