The Last Word: Standing On the Shoulders of Giants
In a letter to Robert Hooke in 1675, Isaac Newton made his famous statement, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”
This is now often used as a way of acknowledging those who contributed to progress, and ultimately helped pave the way for future accomplishments. Newton, the man who discovered the laws of gravity and motion, attributed his success to the great minds who came before him, whose ideas and research guided him along his journey. This is an example of humility if ever there was one.
So, why is it that every subject of the modern-day success story is now deemed to be “self-made?”
A few years ago, a Hollywood socialite whose family has managed to take being famous to impressive new levels for no discernible reason, made the cover of an issue of Forbes that celebrated America’s richest women. The magazine tweeted, “At 21, Kylie Jenner becomes the youngest self-made billionaire ever.”
And everyone collectively said, “Hold up.”
What gave readers pause likely wasn’t the fact that out of the 60 women featured in the issue, Forbes consciously chose to spotlight the one who likely hadn’t worked a day in her life. It was the fact that someone was actually bold enough to claim that this billionaire was “self-made.”
First of all, without going too far into her backstory, it must be noted that Jenner comes from one of the most privileged families in modern history. Secondly: No one actually is ever self-made.
To use the term “self-made” in the context of personal achievement is ultimately dishonest and meaningless at best. At the risk of pedantic digression, I will just say that unless the person was raised by wolves, it’s simply not possible. Even then, thanks be to the wolves.
Speaking in terms of professional growth and achievement alone, every success story has someone or something along the way that helped make that success possible.
A merciful professor rounded up the average so one could pass; a manager decided to take a chance even though “five years of customer service experience” was actually just nine months as a barista; whatever the case, the stars aligned and by the grace of God, an ultimately successful person caught a break. And those little breaks were laid out like stepping stones, guiding them on their path to success.
I could easily fabricate the story of my own success to fit the mold of “self-made.” It would be about overcoming adversity and something about bootstraps, and it would inspire women everywhere.
But I could also tell the truth and say that while I have worked tirelessly over the years and overcome certainly unfavorable odds, much of my success can be attributed to being in the right place at the right time… and the kindness of others. I graduated high school without any realistic goals and enrolled in community college because I had a full-paid scholarship, thanks to my penchant for Trivial Pursuit (shout out to the Manila High School Quiz Bowl team). I decided to keep working toward a bachelor’s degree at a university, despite starting out with an “undeclared” major. I simply loved learning and always had a knack for writing, so I took as many literature classes as I could manage.
That’s how I met the woman who would become my favorite professor and my mentor.
Dr. Frances Hunter was my world lit professor, and from the first lecture, I knew that I wanted to be exactly like her. She was intense and refined, and dressed in a way that made me wonder where she shopped, because every item of clothing seemed custom-made and couldn’t be found on the rack in any Forever 21 that I frequented.
She carried herself with the confidence that can only be found in a woman who was once told she couldn’t do something. She always read between the lines and could turn a fiscal report into Paradise Lost. One day, she complimented one of my essays and suggested I enroll in one of her creative writing courses, which met in her home on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Without revealing too much, I’ll note that I didn’t have the most stable home life at the time — one evening as everyone was packing up after class, she nonchalantly let me know that she had a spare bedroom that she had rented out to a student or two in the past, and that if I needed a home, I had one.
I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in English a year later, and not much had changed for me back home. Dr. Hunter sensed that I was uncertain of what the next chapter of my life would hold. So, she once again, unassumingly, encouraged me to move forward and pursue a graduate degree, because I was a good writer. For the first time in my life, someone saw something in me that I didn’t see myself. I went on to earn my master’s degree, teach college classes and eventually became a professional editor. And because I endured 20 years of school and now have a job that I love, I consider my journey to be a successful one.
Because I did the work and applied myself, I suppose I could claim to be “self-made.” But, that would be a lie. And it would be a disservice to one of the most extraordinary people I’ve ever met.
Everyone wants to stand on the podium and make it look like he or she alone accomplished the impossible. But few are humble enough to applaud the crew that helped make it all possible. Because that would mean that they weren’t “special,” and under the right circumstances and with a little help, any ordinary person could do what they did, too.
But, that’s the truth. The “self-made” success is a myth. And the sooner you realize that, the sooner you open yourself to all of the opportunities that exist for us ordinary people.
So, the next time you come across a “self-made” success story, remember that it doesn’t actually mean anything at all and that every person who achieved greatness, did so by “standing on the shoulders of Giants.”
Lindsey Castrellon is the online editor for Arkansas Money & Politics.
