Redefining Success: Why Do We Celebrate Greed Over Humanity?

Why are some people so comfortable with the suffering of others?

We’re told that success is about climbing to the top, but what if that climb is built on the backs of those who were stepped on, silenced, or stripped of their own opportunities?

Is it really success if what you’ve achieved came at the expense of someone else’s wellbeing?

Did you truly earn it, or were you just successful at taking from, or using others for your own benefit?

And if that’s the case, what kind of person does that really make you? Does it align with your values, or did you have to abandon them to get there?

The uncomfortable truth is that, in our society, we often admire and reward those who succeed by exploiting others. We look up to them, give them power, and call them “better” than the rest.

Meanwhile, those who refuse to sacrifice their humanity for the sake of status — those who choose generosity over greed, compassion over competition — are overlooked.

Why do we not celebrate the ones who raise others up?

The ones who share what little they have because they know someone else needs it more?

Why do we not honor those who build community instead of empire?

Instead, we continue to let the greedy set the rules. We hand them the microphone.

We let them define our value and dictate our worth.

They convince us we are powerless because we refuse to play their game , because we won’t abandon our decency or our humanity just to reach their version of “success.”

But maybe it’s time to ask: who’s truly successful?

The one who has everything while leaving others with nothing, or the one who, even with less, uplifts the many? Maybe the real measure of success isn’t how high you climb,

but how many you bring with you.

Melanie Federline 9/29/2025