Celebrating Success

Parent Teacher meetings galore this week.

I saw a wall of fame up on my alma mater today and the bold header read :
"Celebrate Success".
Below it were A4 pictures of former students who had become 'famous' in Singapore because of their jobs. The pics were accompanied by a short write-up / quote.
It wasn't just a tardy cut and paste job. These pics had nice, hard custom-made plastic screwed over them and that header was made of metal with a nice matt finish!

One was of my very own former classmate and some others I knew as just a year or two younger than myself.
I applaud the intention to encourage the students but "Celebrate Success" would not have been my choice as a header.

The common trait of those whose portraits were put up was a good job designation which made them easily recogniseable in Singapore.
Was there no old girl famous for charitable works?
What does that make the rest of us who are not famous celebrities, be it in the private sector or government sector? How less successful are we? I'm not saying this just because I'm some sour-grape famous news reader (not) or MP (not). I'm saying it because I expected more from my alma mater!!!

I prefer the way of Mike's alma mater, framing up pics of their own 'blast from the past' without specifically calling them successful (although, they are pitifully turning yellow with age).

Here's poetic justice for the unsung heroes or rather heroines of my alma mater.

"To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate the beauty;
to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson