Reflection 131 (success)

Success

In so many books about success we read the stories about the poverty stricken students performing not very well in school and still becoming superb billionaires. These heroic stories put up quite a distortion in the concept that we want to impart in to our youths about success.

True enough Bill Gates and Warren Buffet rank among true huge successes among the human race. But the huge problem with examples of super rich and famous people lies in the definition of success.
So many super rich and famous have committed suicide. Do we count them in as successes? So many are on drugs; are they among the successes?

Let us stop hanging up picture of people achieving exceptional wealth or fame to define success in our world.

Almost every child has the potential to be truly successful in his or her life.
By true success here, I mean the achievement of enough peace of mind to lead a happy fulfilled life.
Isn't this a better more realistic definition?

Peace of mind, happiness, fulfillment. Every ordinary human has the capacity and talents to achieve this. Each in their very own special way. Imagine how the world would look like if the primary purpose of our educational institutions would be that and schools would be assessed based on how their ex-students fare in these terms rather than based on how many A's are produced.