Success and Humbleness

Everyone wants to be successful. They work hard for that goal. However, once success is in their hands different people behave differently.  Some choose to become very arrogant and take revenge from whoever did not help them in their way. Some choose to forget all about their past which suddenly becomes a disgrace to their present glory. Some choose to treat people as best as they can without being arrogant. This last category truly understands how valuable this success they slowly achieved is. Sure, the other categories also understand the value of success. However, once they have success they tend to behave in a very arrogant manner as if they had forgotten that basic human curtsy is one of the most important parts of a society.

I have come across some very successful people. There were some who were determined to make everyone else feel inferior in front of them. Then, there were a few who were so humble that my respect for them grew every time I met them.

One of such people was one of my lecturers from my university days. She was a professor. She had reached the highest echelons in her professional career. She was related to some very influential people in Sri Lanka. She was not only teaching us, but also teaching in foreign universities. Yet, when she sees us she would always greet us with a nice smile. She was one of those teachers who would always want to make her students more confident. She never once made any of us feel inferior to her. Her success was just another reason for her to be humble.

Then, the second person I met, who made me very surprised to see how humble he was, is a businessman. His family owns one of the oldest and largest companies in Sri Lanka. He himself is an engineer. He had worked very hard to elevate his company to its present success. He is someone who believes in humanity even in the business world. For someone with such high ranking in the society, I was actually expecting to have a conversation with someone who would be very arrogant and imposing. However, he was very pleasant. He not even once made any comment that would make him sound arrogant or condescending. I was surprised and happy.

Then, I have come across people, a lot people actually, who have become very arrogant with their success. Some people whom I have known even before their success, have become so arrogant and lost in the aura of their success that they cannot remember the people who actually helped them to achieve that success.

What I have come to understand after all of this experience is simple. Success is a good thing. However, they way people react to success would tell you a lot about their characters. Those who would become more humble with success are people with depth.They understand that success should not be a reason for them to start behaving arrogantly. They choose that success to help whoever they can. Then, there is the second kind. The second kind gets blinded by their own success and start behaving with so much arrogance that they forget basic human curtsy is a good thing. Being humble does not mean you somehow become less powerful. Actually, if you become more and more humble as your success grows, you will always be remembered as a wonderful human being. You will not be one of those success stories that people forget after some time. Choose humbleness with your success.