francislandivarservice

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem on success. One of his measures of success in that poem was to, “Leave the world a bit better.” I have made that line part of my life philosophy. When the tide goes out, there is a mark where the water was. When the waters of life recede from the shore of my being and my heart pumps for the last time, my desire is that there will be a mark where I stood. My aim is that the mark will say, “For some decades, a man occupied this space who saw others more important than himself and made an effort to leave the world a better place for them and those yet to come.”

Our society tells us that success is measured by bank accounts, power, beauty and wealth. These are often the result of hard work, luck or birth. They are not wrong and I strive for some of them daily. However, they are not the marks by which we should measure the success of our lives.