How do you assess one's success?

When you think of someone successful in society, you'll usually think of those who have reached the peak of their industry.


Being a Supreme Court Justice is the highest position (short of Chief Justice), when you're in the judiciary.

CEO or Chairman of the Board for those in a corporation is the golden standard.

For some, its as simple (but still easier said than done), as becoming the richest person in your community.

I asked my father once how to gauge someone's success. His reply, as usual, was reflective.

He told me that success is often associated with one's victory in life, but the true gauge of success of a person is seen when you observe the whole range of their life experience, from the darkest pits of their life to the highest triumphs they have attained.

You look at the ivy league man, born to a good family, and climbing up the corporate ladder to be CEO of a fortune five hundred company. Now, change the fact that he was born to a good family, and imagine that he was orphaned when his parents were murdered, had to take care of his siblings, yet, attained just as much money and the same position and stature in the end.

Think of the physically abused child who has overcome his fears and becomes a counselor who then helps other children raise themselves from their horrible experiences.

Some of this may seem rather holistic, not very worldly, but I believe that people inherently know that it is the struggles that one endures that builds his character, and eventually forms the mountain that shall be the monument of one's success.

Two days ago, I saw a feature on Ninoy Aquino on ANC. He spoke of his time in prison. He was kept there because of his opposition to Ferdinand Marcos. His isolation from his family and his friends was the darkest part of his life. It was when he reached his lowest point that he was able to see everything clearly, and walked toward his goal of a Philippine democracy.

Experiencing our life, from the lowest low to the highest high will give us the bigger picture of where we are, and hopefully, once we know that, will be able to understand where we are headed.