9, and counting.

9 years?! Has it really been that long since we were Seniors in High School!? I think about it quite often because next year it will have been 10 years since graduation and the sealing of our time capsule. This also means our 10 year high school reunion is on the horizon! It's a weird anxiety I have, trying to be "successful" before seeing our old classmates. Perhaps I'm just puffed up with pride, It's hard to know when you're looking from the inside out. In my optimistic mind I perceive it as a healthy and obtainable goal demanding personal growth and responsibility, yet to many it may seem like a prideful ambition tied to money. This has always seemed highly debatable to me.

Is it reasonable to claim that the determining factor whether a desire is good or bad is found in the underlying motive behind the desire? It seems that would certainly be sound thinking. I recognize that "Success" encompasses more than just finances, it's overcoming any variety of challenge. But I'm going to be referring to financial success for this example. If someone wants to be "successful" so they appear to somehow be better than others, I would say that's prideful in nature. However, if someone wants to be "successful" so they can become interdependent (sharing their abundance) to bless more lives than their own in the world, I would say that's very horable in nature. And then of course there are those who declare that any desire for increase in any aspect of life is unholy and disrespectful. (I believe those people are blessed with a pessimistically humble attitude, and I don't agree with them.) I guess my true fear isn't how WELL other classmates percieve me to be, but how prideful I will appear to be to my friends because of said "Success". Is that even a valid concern? ...? (Gotta end here, I've got to get off the bus. Literally not metephorically.)