Ms. Kaplan's Blog

I’ve been reading your essays about your perceptions of success.  It seems to me that what is defined as success for a teenager doesn’t match what you will view as success later on in life.  Right now, you mention popularity, good grades, nice clothes, and varsity letters.  But you also said that 60 years from now, none of that will really matter to you because the comfort of your family and your personal achievement will be much more indicative of the quality of your life.

So what changes between the ages of 16 and 76?  How are we supposed to get past the materialism and focus on social heirarchy in order to find what’s really important?  Your essays indicate that you are aware of the disconnect between what society values and what actually matters. 

The question is why do we have to wait until we are “old” to acknowledge what’s truly important?  Do we have to buy into the ideals that the media places in front of us?  Will we find more happiness if we stop worrying about how many people want to have us on their “Friends” lists and start worrying about how many people can actually rely on us for true friendship? 

I don’t know what the answer is.   Maybe the iPhone does bring you happiness and makes you feel successful.  Perhaps a high volume of text messages in your inbox will put your at the top of the social ladder.   All I can tell you is that down the road, I won’t be wishing that I’d gotten more text messages when I look back at my life.