Monday, September 12, 2005
Point Well Taken...
...even if the journey there is a bit arduous. David Warnock is looking at a logic puzzle and refuting one man's logic with some of his own that is not entirely airtight. Regardless, David's ultimate point is extremely well taken
The larger point from the discussion David has that I would draw is that life involves a lot of things -- family, church, money, recreation.... "Great Success" at any one of those requires sacrifice in the others. I have known a lot of very high acheivers in my life -- billionaire business leaders -- star athletes -- actors and entertainers -- I've even met a US President on a personal basis. All of them I have met had to ignore or "put on hold" some aspect of their lives to achieve that level. Some of them we need (Presidents for obvious reasons and business leaders to create jobs for others) some of them we don't (are the Olympics really better just because somebody ran the 100 meters ten thousandths of a second faster than last time?) I sure would like to find a way to help those we need lead a more rounded life. Those we don't need, we just need to learn to live without.
I have been berated in my life for my lack of ambition -- particularly in college where my grades were way above average and my profs wanted my success to reflect on them. I have an ambition -- it's to be a good man, and a good man of God. That's enough.
My parents ran their own business, they could have follwed the MBA route and made more money. They chose a middle route which meant that they could also have a family life and take time to do the things important to them by not making the persuit of financial reward rule everything.This is certainly the path I chose with my business -- I keep it purposefully small.
The larger point from the discussion David has that I would draw is that life involves a lot of things -- family, church, money, recreation.... "Great Success" at any one of those requires sacrifice in the others. I have known a lot of very high acheivers in my life -- billionaire business leaders -- star athletes -- actors and entertainers -- I've even met a US President on a personal basis. All of them I have met had to ignore or "put on hold" some aspect of their lives to achieve that level. Some of them we need (Presidents for obvious reasons and business leaders to create jobs for others) some of them we don't (are the Olympics really better just because somebody ran the 100 meters ten thousandths of a second faster than last time?) I sure would like to find a way to help those we need lead a more rounded life. Those we don't need, we just need to learn to live without.
I have been berated in my life for my lack of ambition -- particularly in college where my grades were way above average and my profs wanted my success to reflect on them. I have an ambition -- it's to be a good man, and a good man of God. That's enough.
