I don't know how to define success. It's too personal. I've known women who said their lives would be failures if they didn't get married and have a family. Some people say their children are the legacies and their successes, proof of a full life lived well. We all have different sets of circumstances we are born into that present different paths for us to venture along. I have more choices in my life than most of my students, I have the luxury of endlessly pontificating about LIFE while others struggle to make ends meet. My survival hasn't really been much of an issue. I get to deliberate between the pros and cons of buying a golf club and taking a day off of work to hit the course. I approach life from this certain set of variables. Is success meeting my obligations, paying my bills on time every month, obeying all the laws, taking the high road, clinging to morals, steering clear of offending anyone, avoiding the blame for things, doing as I'm told by my superiors? Is success telling the people you care about how much they mean to you, doing whatever you can to help the students who come through your door, hoping like hell that the things you say and the things you do actually make a difference and help your students learn anything?

I don't know what success is, but I think it has to be more than touching one life. That's just not enough for me.