Success: A Quality To Be Measured?

Each year as the first of January approaches, our thoughts shift inwards in retrospective self evaluation. As if that ceaseless ebb & flow of the Now were something tangible for the measuring, we set about redefining our ideals, and when these desired values do not match our current expression, we often devise unrealistic expectations which we then apply to ourselves in the form of "resolutions." Often, these goals are focused on activities like losing weight, increasing wealth, and achieving personal success.

Among the various cards given to me this holiday season, one in particular jumped out at me as containing an intriguingly appropriate message in the context of one's life in review. A poem, written a couple centuries ago by a fellow named Ralph Waldo Emerson.

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 a little easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

So in Emersonian fashion, I resolve in 2008:

To cry often and much, fearlessly expressing my emotions;
To respect those I don't understand, and extend affection to everyone;
To avoid criticizing others, and always remain true to my friends;
To encourage kindness in even the most wicked;
To protect those who cannot defend themselves;
To speak out against that which threatens us all;
To not waste my time measuring my own success, or relative lack thereof.