Success: the attainment of popularity or profit. What exactly is the end game of success? The acquisition (attainment) of being known (popularity) for having a lot of money (profit). Think about that. Gone is the pursuit of happiness. A life aimed toward endless intake and constant negotiation unto profit. And, profit for what? to gain…more profit?
Now, this is, indeed, a stark generalization: but it is a close enough match to the accepted version of success we chase — we recognize it, we know it, we feel it. We’ve collectively swiped right. To be successful is to make money and make a name for, and of, ourselves.
Enter Haiti.
I’ve recently returned from Haiti, but my mind is full of looping memories every single day. It feels like I’m walking around with augmented vision: I drive by a creek near town, flash to people bathing and wringing their blue socks out; I sit down at my table set for dinner, flash to a pot-on-fire, machete, feathers, charred earth; I order an Italian Cappuccino, flash to a bottle of Prestige, plantains, a Caribbean breeze; I stand in the middle of my living room, slowly spin around and survey my four walls, flash to nothing except where four walls should be, but now there’s only empty space and a view of the ocean where hurricanes come from.
See. Is Haiti successful? Are these people the epitome of western success?
As I wandered through a neighborhood I was reminded of both sides to every visit in a Developing or Major World Country: the number of difficult questions outnumber the easy answers at a crippling rate. But there’s always something beautiful and mysterious happening in the presence of community, in the eyes of an elder, in the smile of a child, in the joy of a farmer.
One moment in particular changed everything. We were making our way through one of a thousand hillside neighborhoods in Port Au Prince — something near and like La Jalousie — winding up steps, squeezing through paths as wide as my shoulders — when she appeared, laughing. Maybe seventy, maybe toothless, maybe so happy, like Pharell Happy happy.
It struck me as so devastatingly human: this dark-skinned woman standing on the porch of her 350-square foot home, surrounded by the brightest sunshine you’ve ever seen, speaking Creole to a light-skinned American and all she kept doing was motioning me towards her so she could give me a kiss on the cheek, some oil (?) on my head, and a quick hug.
Everything froze, as they say, and I distinctly remember thinking, “She is successful.” She has redefined success for me. I see more clearly than ever, that success is not about making money, but making peace. She invited me into her space, right next to the herbs I noticed she was (successfully) growing, and she became the very picture of success, in my mind. She reached across the cultural, financial, ethnic, gender barrier and accepted me, empowered me, and sent me on –that’s powerful!
You can guess what her life has been like. And you’d probably be right. Hard does not begin to describe it. And yet, she’s made something out of it; or, perhaps, she’s received something in it, something to share? I’m not sure of the line anymore. But, she — and many, many more folks like her — are successful because they make peace wherever they are and with whomever they encounter!
Success is not about making a profit, it’s about making peace. It’s not so much about making a name for ourselves, it’s about naming the others in our lives. Peace, or shalom, is inclusive of — and not opposed to — a life filled with wonder, beauty, opportunity, and creativity: but it is a life that reconciles all of that with one another. It sums everything up. Or, another way to think about it: it brings everything together.
Success is not about making a profit, it’s about making peace. It’s not so much about making a name for ourselves, it’s about naming the others in our lives.
How has this affected my work as a Creative Agency Founder, Artist, Designer, Church Coach, etc. and my everyday life? I can think of four areas already taking on a new shape.
1. Unsurprisingly, I am affirmed and reminded that my work is first and foremost a meaningful act of creative reconciliation.
Art, design, coaching, are all ways of bringing people together and inviting people into the best story — it’s not about status, ego, or entrepreneurial notches in belts.
This has freed me from the rat race of competition because it’s not about how many likes my art gets on Instagram (if we’re being vulnerable!), and it’s not about how many new conversational leads my coaching lands me. I am for you, and I want to be a part of the greater conversation across my city, our nation, and the world.
2. When success is viewed as peacemaking, it challenges the western approach to spirituality and faith-based communities, ministries, and churches.
Even though these groups are “non-profit,” it ’s easy to fall into the trappings of a spiritualized version of “making a name for oneself” by prioritizing campaigns, working at a breathless pace, trying to please the highest givers, and relentlessly driving towards corporate metrics — success.
As a follower of Jesus, I hope that we might fully embrace his pattern of living which shaped his whole life: he was said to be the Prince of Peace. That is, Jesus was constantly proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven was near, of which he was the Prince, and that Kingdom, therefore, would be one of peace. Every healing, miracle, table interaction — every act of love was a demonstration of peace.
Brandi Miller recently said, “If your faith doesn’t create or have space for empathy, compassion & activism, it doesn’t have space for Jesus. He embodied all of these.” So often, we can agree that we’re for peace, but struggle to know what it looks like. I think peace will often look like creating space, empathy, compassion, and activism.
3. Within my family and as a father, then, success is not viewed as getting a bigger house, a better job, another car.
Rather, we will continue to be a family who welcomes all, lives peacefully whenever possible, and shares our blessings with others — in a day and age when refugees may be seeking peace, this will become increasingly needed.
4. As a husband, redefined success is far more beautiful than what our culture has settled for.
Messages of success are loud and abundant, speaking of more sex, more money, more arguments won, and a life in control –but I rest in knowing my wife, making our house a home, and trusting God to continue making us one in every way: unified in our thinking, forgiven in our mistakes, happy in our days, and satisfied in our nights.
I am still very much in process of my time in Haiti. But, I am thankful for You, Madam, in Port Au Prince — surely, you have changed me for the better, given me a brighter future, allowing me to experience your peace, your joy, and your success.
She reached across the cultural, financial, ethnic, gender barrier and accepted me, empowered me, and sent me on –that’s powerful!
Words and art by Justin Heap. Want more? Find him on Instagram, connect via Twitter, or follow us on Medium. Together, we are making the future.
