Poem for Today


What is Success?

To laugh often and much:

To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty:

To find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by
a healthy child, a garden
patch or a redeemd social condition;

To know even one life has breathed
easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson