Yesterday evening as part of my weekly Tuesday routine, I went down to York U to pick up my brother after his class. He usually gets off at 10 and I got there pretty early so I went to a Tim Horton's in one of the buildings to wait for him. I was working on a law app, when a coversation between two girls sitting across from me caught my attention, mainly because she started speaking in Urdu so as to make her conversation more private and discreet (but seeing as how it was York, I dont see how it made much of a difference :p).

One of the girls was droning on about how her parents don't let her do this and that, and how so much is expected of her from so many different people (preachin' to the choir...). She then said something really interesting: "it's so hard to please people, I think that if you can make people happy, you're the most successful person"

Say what..?!

Pleasing people is the easy part: you just do what they want you to do! Bingo, presto, voila, TA-DA - done, you've made that person momentarily happy. It's like being a "yes-man" for some big shot who's every wish is your command. That wouldnt neccessarily make you a success! Though technically I shouldnt have been listening to someone else's conversation in the first place, it just struck me how prosaic her statement was. You're successful if you please other people? Since when and how (and why) is that true? I don't mean "pleasing someone" in the way that you would make someone happy by doing something nice or thoughtful for them, but in the sense that you are following orders or desires set out by another.

If anything, you're most successful if you are able to make yourself happy. Every day we go to work and do a series of reports, sales, and service to make our bosses happy. At home we aim to make our parents happy by doing our chores and following their advice (the latter of which i don't have much to complain about =)). But how often is it that we do something to make ourselves truly happy? In my case it's not often at all. I think that if we are triumphant in pleasing not only those who are close to us, but in that also are able to be true to ourselves and make ourselves happy, it's then that we've truly succeeded.

(p.s. Sorry to Aisha (?) and friend from the Tim Horton's in the TEL Building at York who's conversation I was listening to...my bad)