The American concept of success is founded on sacrifice. We're asked over and over and over to sacrifice our relationships with our family, our health (physical, emotional, spiritual), our environment... all in pursuit of greater wealth. We're guilt-tripped into believing we're lazy and worthless if we're less than enthusiastic about the cost of these transactions.
I think success is indeed founded on sacrifice. I just think we've got it backwards.
We need to sacrifice our fear of failure and poverty in order to be successful parents and spouses.
We need to sacrifice our pride in order to be successful stewards of our health.
We need to sacrifice our comfort in order to be successful caretakers of our resources.
My choice to guard zealously these priorities may mean I'll never be a successful contractor. I'll take my measure of success over the world's anytime.
Those are some awfully fat birds out there.
-- Shamelessly stolen from Chip and Lynn Jackson, by way of Mike Rusch