Suketu Metha wrote a critique of "Tiger Mom" Amy Chua and her husband's recent book about the triple package of traits that supposedly determine one's success in life. The article was printed in Time Magazine back in february.
Metha goes to the heart of what "success" and "achievement" means, reminding us that the disciplined and achievement focused approach to life is not always what we need.
Here's a quote:
"It's not conformity that makes this country great; it's an individual striking out against the expectations of his culture, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg dropping out of Harvard, Miles Davis coming out of heroin addiction to produce 'Round About Midnight, the 14-year-old Billie Holiday turning the pain of her childhood into the bluest beauty, Sylvia Plath taking on death with pills and poetry, William S. Burroughs writing from the bowels of his addiction in Naked Lunch; it's Hemingway and Fitzgerald and Cheever and Carver drinking and writing, writing and drinking through their demons. Imagine what American culture would be if American artists had kept a tight check on their impulses.
Metha goes to the heart of what "success" and "achievement" means, reminding us that the disciplined and achievement focused approach to life is not always what we need.
Here's a quote:
"It's not conformity that makes this country great; it's an individual striking out against the expectations of his culture, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg dropping out of Harvard, Miles Davis coming out of heroin addiction to produce 'Round About Midnight, the 14-year-old Billie Holiday turning the pain of her childhood into the bluest beauty, Sylvia Plath taking on death with pills and poetry, William S. Burroughs writing from the bowels of his addiction in Naked Lunch; it's Hemingway and Fitzgerald and Cheever and Carver drinking and writing, writing and drinking through their demons. Imagine what American culture would be if American artists had kept a tight check on their impulses.
When people dream of moving to America, it's not just so that they can be prudent, studious, restrained. "
Suketu Metha is the author of the splendid book about Mumbai, Maximum City.
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