“Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it”. - Dalai Lama. UPSC IAS Mains 2022 General Studies (Paper – 4)
We all aspire for success; success means the status of having achieved and accomplished an aim or object. Being successful means achieving planned goals and desired visions.
Success provides confidence, security, a sense of well-being, the ability to contribute at a greater level, hope and leadership. Without success, you, the group, your company, your goals, dreams and even entire civilizations cease to survive.
However, success may come at a price, to attain success, one may have to give up something- leisure, preferred activities, sleep and relaxed way of life. Instead, one has to work long hours, be steadfast and overcome any setback with redoubled efforts. So, when one gains success, it has to be evaluated against what one had to sacrifice in order to achieve it.
- It may happen that to achieve success, personal relationships are compromised.
- Long-term goals are compromised for immediate success.
- Means v/s ends debate.
- Success at Kalinga came at huge humanitarian cost, this changed the outlook of King Ashok towards war forever
- Success at all costs (Hitler’s invasion of Poland)
- If success is at the cost of compromising honesty and integrity, then it is not worthy.
- If success creates a conflict of interest, then it must be avoided, or conflict must be resolved first.
Thus, the statement of Dalai Lama holds true that success should be judged by what you had to give up in order to attain it.
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