A Lesson from Aunt May

Recently I was reading an article on the success story of a businesswoman in a newsletter. She is an amazing fighter, who never gives up on her dreams and sticks to the fight whatever trouble befalls. In the end she is celebrated as one of the most successful women in Asia.

In the interview she emphasizes that her dream doesn't end with this achievement. There are yet more to come, more achievements to prize, more success plans to fulfill.

As putting down the newsletter, I pondered two things.

The first was how her story motivates others to possess the same spirit for struggle and success as she has. The second, was the question whether or not achieving our dream truly gives us pure satisfaction and happiness in the end.

All of us have dreams.

I believe it is our natural goal to make our dreams come true.

But, what if one day they do come true? What will we feel then?

Will we be satisfied, or will our achievement turns us insatiable, desiring more and more things, setting greater dreams and greater goals?

Will we be content and happy? Will our lives be truly meaningful, then?

I suddenly remembered a scene in the movie Spider-Man 2, a lesson Aunt May - Peter Parker's elderly aunt - taught him when he was at the brink of confusion. As Peter was trying to establish his true identity and shifting between the options of remaining as Peter Parker (the naive, ordinary student) or living out his destiny as Spider-Man (the greatly needed hero, loved and respected by the citizens), Aunt May gave him this encouraging words, “I believe there’s a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady and give up the thing we want the most – even our dreams.”

I sat down and contemplated.

In the end I realized I'd learned an important lesson.

I thanked God for the success story. And I was glad I kept the above quotation to myself.

Combining the two, I understood that fulfilling our dreams and reaching our goals in life will only bring us contentment and happiness when the things we fight for is not purely dedicated for self-interest, for only in sharing what we've acquired with others can we find true meaning and purpose in living.