Success must bestow humility!

                   The morning sky, in the horizon, reminded me of the hero of its arena. The rising sun, with its entire splendor explained to me the preliminary steps of success. But, I kept in mind, that in the end of the day, as the sun sets and becomes the CEO of the evening sky, the final steps towards success have to be learned, and that is ‘humility’. The morning’s splendor and the evening’s humility, makes the whole day of the sun, a success!

                 You and me, we are living in a world which struggles to define success in its own style. Few sketches of a modern artist or the few lines of sonnets from a modern poet, finds in itself an imperfection, when it tries to describe “success”. This is the period of history, when the world finds great leaders rising up and falling down, but few come out with humility. The latest civilization which has made the word ‘success’ wrapped with a shining paper of material prosperity, has forgotten to attach the decorative ribbon of humility, which shows how precious the pack of success is.  Why should a person climbing up in the ladder of success, think of humbling himself and hold a banner of humility? Why would success get reminded of its humble beginnings? Are we living on a planet which looks at success as a tree which forgets the roots?

                Wherever humility is lost in the midst of success, it is equal to lose the precious value of that success. We may become the winner of a brainstorming battle, or the champion of the whole world, but as a winner and as a champion, your reaction towards your success is the cream over the cake. It determines your colour and your taste. It is the crown which shows, how powerful and long lasting is your success; just like the kingdoms are recognized by their crowns. One famous quotation on success says, “Behind every son’s success there are a proud mother and a surprised father”. Most of the time, the quotation evokes a micro smile on the faces and sometimes macro laughter too, but very few realize that the successful son’s quality is still left to be observed and commented. Why should be the father surprised? Has the son lost his humility in front of his father? Has the son’s pride made him forget the foundations on which he has erected his pillars of success?

              Wherever there is success, there should be humility. And wherever humility is found amidst success, there will be exaltation. The bible says, “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted”(Mathew 23:12). But, where does the exaltation come from, is the question which seeks the place of humility. Does the exaltation come in the guise of boasting and beating the own drums or does it show up the appreciation by others, to the humility the success bestowed? It is an option given to every successful person, to determine his or her own way of celebrating success. But the truth and the observed reality which has been proved many a times clearly shows, that any response or reaction following success should be an exaltation of humility. The more you humble yourself in your success, the more you will be exalted for your success. The nation India, which had seen many great leaders rooting up from humble beginnings and reaching the highest levels, has always given the exaltation to those who expressed their humility in spite of their success. Today the world is witnessing many successful people, who are humble enough to keep others reminding, that their success began at the lowest levels. The modern revolution in the information technology industry, and the wide opening to the sports and entertainment world, has placed many examples in front of us. Personalities from the pavement-shops to the highest sky-scrapers, are reminding us the value of humility bestowed in success. It may be a humble smile from an excellent CEO, a humble prayer from the nation’s newly elected leader, a humble obedience by a super-star cricketer to an umpire’s decision or the humble words of remembering your father and mother and your kindergarten teacher when you receive the Nobel Prize.

Humility has its own pearls and diamonds in the necklace of success!

The beauty and pride of being successful, depends much on the humility bestowed in your success. Everyone wishes to climb up in the ladder; whatever ladder life provided. Every step in the ladder is a success. Each passing step and its success demands humility. Once humility is lost, the wall on which the ladder is leaning on starts cracking. Once you reach the peak you realize, that throughout the years you have climbed up in a ladder, which is not stable. Life becomes miserable. There would be demands raised in front of you to come down and start from the base once again, safeguarding your humility. Then it is time for you to learn the lesson of success with humility as one of the important subtitles. Many sports teams were criticized for the way they showed their newly won trophies to the world. Some celebrities were hated for the revengeful words they used to describe the obstacles they encountered while they received the awards.  Few super-stars had to regret for the pride which overshadowed their success and also destroyed their career. Building the Titanic was a success, but the ship’s sailing in the Atlantic wasn’t; because the pride which overshadowed and words which said, “Even if God wishes also, the ship won’t sink”, brought the humility in success to an end and the ship’s destruction too.

Let success be achieved through hard work. Let it provide us the much needed joy. But, let it not lead us into a trap where humility is lost. God is there behind all of our success. Let there be humility expressed in all our success, so that all of us and God will be pleased!

Success must bestow humility!