"The planet doesn’t need more ‘successful’ people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every shape and form. It needs people who will live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these needs have little to do with success as our culture has defined it."
- David Orr
I've seen this quote floating around tumbler and the interwebs these past few days and for some reason I keep coming back to it. This quote had me thinking about 'success' and what it means to me. Personally, I believe that success equals the pursuit of happiness. If you're family oriented, success means having a healthy family life; if you're career driven, success means the ability to forgo your intellectual interest into a career; if spiritual, happiness and success comes with forming a relationship with your creator. Maybe your success comes with a few of these things and some others combined.
Ralph said it best:
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and
the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find
the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a
healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know
even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to
have succeeded.”
At the end of our lives, success can be easily measured by summing two things:
How many people you helped.
How many times you smiled and laughed.
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