My Worst Career Setback Was the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me
Just as Chapter 44 of the Tao te Ching predicted.
I’m revisiting two popular topics of past articles: The Tao and my stint as a writer on The West Wing television show.
The 2,500 year old Tao te Ching is my favorite book of wisdom. For the umpteenth time, I implore you to read it. It’s only 12,000 words, which would be a really long magazine article or a very short book, and takes a little over an hour to read. Here’s a link.
So, what does the Tao have to do with my West Wing experience? Plenty.
But today’s article focuses on a line from Chapter 44:
“Fame or integrity: which is more important? Money or happiness: which is more valuable? Success or failure: which is more destructive?”
Though posed as questions, the author, Lao Tzu, deems the answer to each as obvious:
-Integrity is more important than fame.
-Happiness is more valuable than money.
-Success is more destructive than failure.
It’s that third one that comes into play in this piece. First, the back story.