Wednesday
October 27, 1999
Raise the bar
Mr. Alikhani writes an admirable piece ["Stop
or go?"] on one's perspectives of how we impact our society.
It is worthy to mention that one has to be a good human being first
and foremost. So often we try to categorize ourselves by using so many
different issues. It doesn't matter if one's an Egyptian, an Icelander,
a Cruzan, or an Iranian. What matters most, when reflected upon, was how
this one individual impacted his/her society.
Mr. Alikhani's grandfather certainly did significant things to impact
his neighbors and friends. However, everyone, in one shape or another,
directly or indirectly has an impact on society. That is how U.S. has become
such a melting pot with a diverse--some may argue-- socio-economic background.
Recently, a good friend and I were reflecting upon life. We decided,
in our opinion, that there are generally two type of people:
1) ones who are content with how much [subjective or objective] they've
progressed; and
2) ones who will consistently strive to do better by setting higher
hurdles. Hafez, Frank Lloyd Wright, or even Mr. Alikhani's grandfather
fall into the second category. These impact society the most.
My point being that in order to leave a positive impact on society,
we have to set hurdles for ourselves and, every so often as we look back
upon an achievement, we have to raise the bar.
Ali Shemirani
