There's a story about a father and son who were in constant tension about the son's casual attitude about finding a job. During a particularly heated argument, the father said, "If you can get a job you enjoy, that's fine. But in the end, a job is the way you make a living."
The son answered meanly, "Well, I want something a lot better than wasting away as manager of a muffler shop."
The mother overheard the conversation and was furious. "How dare you demean another man's life? Your dad's a wonderful husband and father and people look up to him. He gave up on his dream to be a sportswriter so he could give you and your sisters a good home and college educations. He may not be your idea of success, but he's mine." And she handed him a poem by Betty Anderson Stanley:
"He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, 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 better 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 always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction."
-character counts
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