GRADUATION SPEECH

JUNE 1958

EDWARD HEDRICK CLARKE

WhAT IS SUCCESS?

Only one life to live! And we want to do the very best with

it so as to leave our mark in the world. We all want to

achieve some great triurph, a triumph that we have striven for

with our all. We all yearn for success. Success - there are many different

conceptions of that word. But can I be mistaken in saying

that our conception of what constitutes success means

more to our existence than anything else? Can I be mistaken

in saying that a distorted conception of success brings to

life only meaninglessness and emptiness? In only the span of

my short life, I have seen lives devoted to striving for, and

achieving things, which once achieved brought only misery -

and is misery success?

Tonight I would like to explore with you that one quality so

important to our future lives, success that it means and how to should regard it if we are to be true to ourselves and above all happy with ourselves.

My conception of success is simply that of a young man given to other people. Therefore it is not in the light of experience that I talk to you but only in observation. But from my observations I am convinced that one must not judge success by wealth power or fame

but only by how much one has contributed to the happiness and well-being of others and more important by how well he has used the tools which God gave him. There can be no other measurement Of success, and I am convinced that those of us go out in the world with the notion that there are other measurements of happiness will some day be counted among the unhappiest and most miserable of us.

Frankly I pity those who devote their lives and their all to the

aequisition of material and earthly things - power. fame, and wealth am not saying t~-.Lat there aren't men in the world to whom power and fame and wealth naturally flows and that these men should not seek those things. It is a worthwhile calling - seeking, wealth, power, and fame - for such men: But I do say that there are men in the world (arid the great, great,, majority of us are in this lot) who can achieve Viese things only loy V-xuatin,- themselves up at the expense of everything. They must buy wealth, power, and fame - and those things can be bought - but the price,, the price is so very high - sometimes it involves a man's love of God,, his love of friends and even his own soul - everything the man should cherish. Henry Ward Beecher compared such men "to steamers that have been blown about by mighty winds until they are out of fuel and cannot get back to port again without burning the furniture and part of themselves. And, so,, after all those articles on board which are combustible are consumed, part after part is torn away and burned in order to get enough steam to get back and they are stripped of everything from stem to stem when they enter port. Finally, men thus come into the harbor of old age - empty. They have used themselves for fuel to make steam all through life."

It surprises me sometimes how a man such as this who has sacrificed all his virtues., who has used himself for fuel to make steam all throuh his life, could look down as he does on the simple and common - but still virtuous men - and the simple and virtuous am actually looked down upon by some of the so-called successful men of the world. The so-called successful men, man who have paid for their wealth, power, or fame with their virtue. They are convinced that they are masters of all they survey. They are convinced that they have beaten the world, but the verv irony of it is that the world has really beaten them. I wonder if one of them have ever considered the cost* As Beecher says: "no man is prosperous whose immortality is forfeited,

no man is rich to whom the grave brings a eternal bankruptcy_, no man is happy upon whose path there rests but a momentary glimmer of light chiming out between clouds that are closing over him in darkness forever."

Thus if success is not in getting, and it is not - then it must be in giving. Yes.. life is giving, not getting. The really successful man understands that. Success means living f or others and doing this, gaining the appreciation of othars. There can be no other success. If a man forgets this and chases after tangible things all his life, then his existence is a void and a vacuum. However, those of us who put their hearts and souls into something greater than they are - and that something can only be the happiness and well-being of others - they am the great, and the virtuous, and the successful. They have escaped from selfishness and aimlessness because they have devoted themselves to a great purpose - others. There is no other worth while purposes and the

part of us that thinks that there is or should be another purpose - the part that asks: what is there in it for me? Nobody, nothing matters just so your own self-centered., self-seeking wishes are satisfied - that part of us -must be fought. It all reminds me of the young boy, applying for a job at a neighborhood theater and the manager asked him: "What would you do in case of f1re?" "Oh, don't worry about me.." said the boy, "I'd get out all right." That part of us, that part which is always asking: What is there in it for me? That part must be fought.

I believe that some day - and t1mt someday may be old age for some of us -I believe that all of us will finally realize that giving is all that counts in life and all that should count. I think that to have

given, even the little step toward something good and beneficial to humanity can make the humblest life worthy and dignified. More than this, it is the very meaning of existence.

Not only must one give in life but he must give all he has., however humble gifts they are. Success knows no boundaries and recognizes no limitations.

The one great danger for all of us in life I believe is that some of us may not occupy such high stations and some of us may then wonder whether our gifts am worth giving* There will be people who will say: "Well, if I had a million

I would endow a University, if I had great intellectual powers, I would write

a book of inspiration, but I do not have such resources., therefore I will do

nothing." The life of such people as these has to be meaningless and empty

They are failures. They fail because they feel they have to be someone else.

They don't realize that all God asks of us is what we are and what we have.

Use what you have I

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Booker T. Washington once told of a ship lost at sea for many days that suddenly sighted a friendly vessel* From the mast of the unfortunate vessel was seen the signals "Water, water., we are dying of thirst" The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back: "Cast down your bucket where you are." A second and a third time the signal "Water, water, send up water" ran up from the distressed vessel and was answered: "Cast down your bucket where you are." The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heading the injunction, cast down his bucket and it came up full of fresh sparkling water from the mouth of the immense Amazon River. Thats what we must do in life - we must use what we have, we must cast down our bucket where we are. We must realize that it isn't the great things that make us great but the doing well of the little things. We must realize that a very common and humble calling can be made great if a great soul is there; and we must remember that it is always the little thirgs that are the stepping stones to the great ones. Ii hope therefore that we all learn to use the tools which God has given us# hcrdeverj, mediocre they arej and I hope t2hat we will make our end the happiness and well-being of others and not the attaining of wealth., poker, and fame. I hope that

someday we will all understand success and have a true conception of what makes success and above

to yearn to achieve the real success. Real success is attainable for every single one of us,, attainable by noble work and noble purpose. We need only have that true sense of values, knowing that real success is not the attainment of temporal and earthly things.

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I should like to leave with you something that expresses what true success is much better than I could ever hope to - sormething,- supreme in beauty and clarity of thought. From the writings of A. J. Stanley. An analysis of the real and true success, the success for which I hope all of us will one day want to strive: "He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed - often., and loved,, - much. Who has gained the respect of intelligent men, and the love of little children, who has filled his- niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world a better place than he found it; whether by an improved poppy a perfect poem, or a rescued soul. Who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it;

who has looked for the best in others, and given the best he had - whose life was an inspiration and whose memory is a benediction