Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-10-30
By HOWARD WHITMAN


think so?
These two are related as the
straw is related to the ice cream
soda. If you want fully to enjoy
an ice cream soda it is nice to
have both. But If you are to have
one only, it is certainly far bet
ter to have the ice cream soda
than to have only the straw.
And it is quite worthless, and
futile too, to have the whole
world thinking that you are a
success if you do not think so
yourself.
For whom are we succeeding
for ourselves or for somebody
else? Success. if it is to be mean
ingful, must be a personal thing.
1t varies from individual to in
dividual as personality varies;
indeed. 1t springs from the very
depths where personality itself
arises.
Thus personal success must
exist inside If 1t is to exist at
all. It cannot be composed of
outward signs Of appearances,
but only Of intangible personal
values stemming from a mature
philosophy.
Few Possessions
One Of the things which i'm
pressed the world most about
Mohandas K. Gandhi was the
published photograph Of all his
earthly possessions at the time
he died: a pair Of spectacles, a
pair of sandals, a few simple
garments. a spinning wheel, and
a book. Yet the world knew that
here had passed one of the rich
est of men.
Perhaps the world in the wells
of its consciousness was aware
of what Henry David Thoreau
had put into this simple SEN
tence: "A man is rich in the
proportions Of things he can let
alone"
Gandhi himself often had
spoken of the reduction Of needs.
Life to him seemed process of
gradual Investment Of needs, so
that from a squalling infant in
the cradle who needs everything
the human being, If he lives
successfully. gradually natures
into an adult who needs virtually
nothing.
This is not to say that poverty
should be the goal or that an
aesthetic denial Of material
progress or possessions makes
one a mahatma, a great soul.
Many a great soul has been
vastly surrounded by material
possessions and formtdably
wealthy: Andrew Carnegie, Jacob
Riis. Julius Rosenwald, Samuel
Mather. the Guggenheims, and
Russell Sage.
All these men achieved true
personal success, in these cases
outward as well as inward. They
managed to have the ice cream
soda and the straw as well.
Constant Factors
Whether one is rich or poor,
success remains a personal thing.
There are certain constant fac
tors to be found in true success,
be 1t the success Of an Andrew
Carnegie or Of q Mahatma
Gandhi. There are the essential
factors. independent of wealth
or achievement, poverty or asce-
ticism. These are the dynamic
factors in success, the very bone
and sinew of it.
The first constant factor is
purpose. One must know that
in whatever he does he is moving
forward toward a goal. Aim
lessness is the worst enemy OF
success. One can hardly feel
successful in a bog. But as long
as one has purpose he feels that
his energies and creative thought
are taking him somewhere, and
there is satisfaction in the Jour-
ney just as there is despair when
ever we feel, as we insightfully
put 1t. that we are getting no.
where"
Each of us has known &C.
caSions when life was suddenly
vibrant and alive because We
were going somewhere and con-
trastingly bleak occasions wher
life seemed like the wooden horse
at the end of the road which
says Dead End" Success to be
true must have an abiding sense
OF purpose; otherwise, though
one may vegetate successfully
one cannot live successfully.
Secondly, success has the in
trinsic character Of a batting
average. It is not all of a piece:
not every hour nor every day is
uniformly successful. Rather
there are upturns in success
separated by valleys of failure.
Some Failure
A successful life will have its
days or even years of failure
1t will certainly have its
moments of utter washout. These
are not blights upon such a life
but merely the inevitable failings
which bear testimony to the fact
that success isn't easy.
The psychiatrists tell us OF
"compulsive" types of individual:
who cannot bear a moment oil
failure. Actually such people
never taste real success. The,
rather have the constant flavor
Of mediocrity upon their tongues
They fear even the slightest
failure lest it topple their tremb.
ling confidence in themselves.
With more firmly anchored
confidence a person is able K
absorb occasional failure: in fact
with close touch TO reality tn,
mature individual knows that oc.
casional failure is inevitable anc
he wastes less energy in frettinl
over 1t so that he may have NOR,
energy with which to bid for thu
success he seeks.