Today, I am thankful for those who aspire to meet their goals.
We all have ambitions, whether to be successful in our job, to maintain a healthy lifestyle, to gain fame or status, or to accumulate wealth. This eagerness can be very motivating to drive us forward to meet our goals, but ambition may also carry some negative side effects, especially when the achievement of the goal supersedes all other considerations. Ambition becomes particularly detrimental when the cost comes at someone else’s expense or requires a person to circumvent societal laws. Cheating, lying, and blatant disregard of others in pursuit of the defined mission may become commonplace if ambition is established on the precarious premise that the end justifies the means. In other words, an ‘all for broke’ mentality carries risks.
On the other hand, aspiration carries a different meaning from ambition. Aspiration, or the gentle desire and thoughtful determination to reach a significant goal, also considers the means by which the achievement is attained. In other words, the pursuit of the personal milestone takes into consideration our own value system and does not disavow the rights of the external world. In other words, aspiration is more of an internal desire that is tempered by the principles of kindness, selflessness, and integrity.
Sadly, as the old saying goes, the road to hell can indeed be paved by good intentions. So, how does one work to achieve meaningful goals without allowing one’s aspiration to disintegrate into rampant ambition?
All this reminds of a story of an apiarist (or beekeeper) who aspired to climb to the top of the world, and, when he achieved his good fortune, he helped to change the world. As a pilot in the New Zealand Royal Air Force, Edmund Hillary had the opportunity to fly aircraft over high mountain peaks. After the war, he aspired to reach those heights again, this time as a mountaineer. In 1948, Hillary avidly climbed the highest peak in New Zealand on Mount Cook (Aoraki), but then he decided to set his heights even higher, the treacherous highest peak on Earth – Mt. Everest. In the spring of 1953, he finally got his opportunity. Together with his Sherpa colleague, Tenzing Norgay, the two became the first confirmed climbers to ever reach the mountain’s summit on this exact day (May 29) in 1953. Prior to that point, many had attempted to reach the acme, but to no avail. In fact, 13 individuals, including the famous George Mallory of the ‘because it’s there’ lore, has lost their lives in the pursuit. Ever since, another nearly 300 climbers have died in pursuit of the same goal. Sadly, since 1978, not a single year has passed without at least one person dying on the mountain in pursuit of this elusive prize.
I’m not here to praise Hillary and Norgay in their success in fulfilling their aspiration because risk-taking is not my cup of tea. Nor am I here to recognize that Hillary went on to reach both the North and South Pole in other expeditions. However, I am here to acknowledge that he parlayed his new-fangled success after the 1953 expedition to support a noble cause. Through his Himalayan Trust, which was established in 1960, Hillary constructed numerous hospitals, schools, and other facilities in the remote region of Nepal to support the Sherpa people.
In other words, he aspired to help humanity. The good news is that we can all do the same. Better yet, we don’t even need to climb 29,029 feet to reach this goal.
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