What is success? I can recall numerous times when I have been told to keep my grades up so I can live a successful life, but is money the definition of life success? I believe that success in life depends on your personal happiness, not the opinion of others.

I was walking to a friend’s house one day and passed by something intriguing, though I didn't see any significance at first. Honestly, most people would just walk by and laugh, but I saw more in the situation. It was a man outside an abandoned gas station, all was an old truck that looked as raggedy as he did. His behavior, however, was odd. He was running around dancing with his beverage of choice in a paper sack. I almost felt bad for him and then realized something. He was happy, his smile as he danced to the silence of a broken radio was almost mesmerizing. I thought about how I saw him at first as an old, pathetic, homeless, man, and I realized that it doesn't matter. He was happy with his life. He was homeless but happy with what he had.

I admire people like that who can set back public standards for society and live his life like he chose to and be happy with his own choices. But why can't we all see this way? I hear a common joke about living your life flipping burgers at McDonald's, but is that really a bad thing? If you want to live like that it's your choice. I've been told that you must go to college and get a good paying job to be a good person in life. But is the well paid business man any better than the homeless man? I believe they're equal, the homeless man had an opportunity to become a great person in the eyes of society but chose that he'd rather not live that life. He made a decision for himself to live the way he wanted too. The “successful people” are happy too because they made a choice on how they were going to live.

But why does the opinion of society have to impact the way we live our lives? Is it really that bad to live as a lower class citizen? Why do we let it affect our happiness and change the way we want to live? I believe that there’s more to the words “life liberty and the pursuit of happiness” than most people see. The pursuit of happiness should be determined by your personal happiness, not the standards of society that seemingly everyone believes in.

Take a moment to recognize the theoretical person flipping burgers at Mcdonalds. Without them, we would not have any burgers. As corny as this example is, its true in many ways. The world needs everyone, everybody here builds up each other's lives in different ways. Being a “lower class citizen” isn’t all that bad, some are not paid near as much as they should be. Take teachers for example. Their work is extremely hard for what they’re paid, because of students (including myself) making their work much harder. However, they are often overlooked and not considered a person with a “good job”. The point is, everyone in our society is needed, and people shouldn’t judge others career or life choice.

I encourage you to pursue any career choice you choose. Whatever decisions you make for your life shouldn’t be judged or discouraged by others as long as you accomplish your goal in life. Your personal happiness is more important than fulfilling the roles of society, so do whatever it takes to be happy.