Not Your Every Day Success

Today’s blog prompt asks the writer to respond to the term “success”. 

I originally wrote this prompt topic because of a fleeting thought at the vast difference between the world’s idea of success and my own. The big house, the nice car, the great job, the Ivy League school, all of those elements that scream success. Perhaps. But the greatest success of all cannot be measured by any material item. 

While I was pondering this idea, I happened upon this statement in Les Miserables. I am telling you people, this book is speaking to me. Through all of the misery…. It speaks to me. 

“In passing, we might say that success is a hideous thing. Its false similarity to merit deceives men. They confuse heaven’s stars with a duck’s footprint left in the mud.”

And so after happening upon this portion of Hugo’s work, my response to the term “success” is now going to take a different train of thought. Instead of pondering how true success is found in serving God, loving your spouse, and raising a plethora of wonderful children who will do the same; serving people, showing God’s love to others… Yes this is truly my idea of success. And if I were to ponder this side of the question further, my parents would have been the prime example of success. 

However, I am drawn to the quote from Les Miserables and therefore will respond different than I otherwise would have. Success as a hideous thing. Success disguised as merit which deceives men. If only Hugo could see the state the world is in now. How often has the world’s idea of success broken homes and torn families apart? How often have traditional values given way to what society deems “success.” This dream that so many pursue… is not truly what life should be about. It is heaven’s stars at all, but merely a duck’s footprint in the mud. 

Maybe if we moved away from the great need for success and started focusing on those elements, actions, and ideas which the world may not deem important, we would discover where true success lies. 

What is your idea of success? Link Below!