WHAT IS OUR MEASURE OF SUCCESS?

3 Aug 1994

        Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, in his recent speech to 
Singapore undergraduates, said that the question uppermost in their 
minds was: How do I improve my career, and increase my income year 
by year so that the good life I aspire to can be reached as soon as 
possible?
        If this is the entirety of our aspirations, then it is sad 
confirmation of a narrow, unabashedly material measure of success. 
Youthful idealism barely sprouts before it is firmly crushed by the sheer 
weight of pragmatism. Have you not heard our young people say: 
Idealism is crazy, impractical; it is better be pragmatic (i.e., hard-
nosed)?
        That this particular definition of success dictates youthful 
aspirations is not surprising (although one suspects it is not only youth 
who are seduced by the vision of material plenty). Not when we are 
frequently exhorted to work ever harder to secure that piece of landed 
property, or this luxury car, or a golf club membership. For crying out 
loud, as if these are the true marks of having "arrived"!
        There is a saying, "The world is your oyster", which is, 
doubtless, a useful metaphor to encourage our youth to venture into an 
economic brave new world. However, this prejudicial metaphor also 
sanctions the view that the world is ours to exploit, just as the oyster is 
robbed of its pearl.
        Certainly, there is value in, and need for, economic pursuits. 
However, should this be our sole ambition in life? We can add a higher 
dimension to our measure of success by asking: Does success stem 
from extracting great material wealth from life, or from contributing to 
the common weal of humankind? Emerson wrote that to succeed is 
"...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..." (full poem at end of letter)
        Emerson's point is that your success in life turns on your 
willingness to help improve the lives of others, and not merely on your 
ability to attain the material good life rapidly. Graduates, please take 
note, for much is expected of those to whom much has been given.
        Senior Minister acknowledged idealism as a powerful force for 
good. Indeed, given a chance, it is potent motivation.  So instead of 
stifling any spark of idealism with a foolishly narrow measure of 
success, we should seek to establish conditions that will allow it to 
flourish.
        Instead of regarding our world as an oyster, a garden is a better 
metaphor. A garden that, though bountiful, is nevertheless in sore need 
of tending. The volunteers toiling in diverse parts of the world to bring 
relief to those stricken by poverty, disease or war deserve our 
admiration and emulation.
        Is it not time we expanded our measure of success?


Success

        To laugh often and much; to win 
the respect of intelligent people and 
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.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson