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The Road To Success
“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going”- Beverly Sills.
The popular notion of success in today’s world has more to do with material possessions than
spiritual wealth. The world, which neatly categorises people into winners and losers, has little time and
patience for failure. Indeed, as the Russian proverb puts it, “Success has many fathers, while
failure is an orphan”.
The just concluded commonwealth games bring into sharp focus this dichotomy. While the
entire nation rejoiced with the victorious athletes, one cannot help but wonder if we would be as
unwavering in our support in the absence of medals. The notion of failure is irrevocably intertwined
with that of success. It is failure that impacts true meaning of success to an individual. Ask Ivan Lendi,
who came tantalizingly close to winning the Wimbledon so many times without ever doing so. He
would probably echo Emily Dickinson’s famous lines:
Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love
and believe in, and it will come naturally.
Success is counted sweetest by those who never succeed. To comprehend a nectar requires
sorest need.
So what is this elusive entity called Success? Who or what constitutes it? Success, like beauty, is
purely subjective and lies in the eye of beholder, so to speak. True success involves having extravagant
impossible dreams and the gumption to follow them through. It lies in relentless hard work and the
willingness to try endlessly in the face of failure. It requires humility and the willingness to learn from
one’s mistake; and still having the enthusiasm to go on. It involves embracing life, in all its shade,
unconditionally and comprehending joy in the smallest of things.
True success comes with realization that it is not just about how far you have got but it is the
distance you have travelled from where you started that count.
Thomas Charles Saxe effectively sums it up when he says:
“My life hasn’t been that spectacular.... Except for all the spectacular things that has happened in
my life”
Mrs Nirupama Agnihotri
W/o Col Piyush Agnihotri
HQ, Coast Guard Region (NW)
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