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Joe Paterno, age 84, ended 46-years as the iconic head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions. Paterno reached a pinnacle this year by winning more football games than any other coach in the history of college athletics. His storied accomplishments were tackled short of the goal line by the recent revelation that he failed to act efficaciously regarding the rape of a 10-year old boy by one of his associates and, furthermore, that Paterno continued to support and maintain close affiliation with the rapist.
Solon, age 74, ended a 10-year period of writing the laws and constitutions of ancient Athens and set out on a world voyage. He was then known as the “wisest man in Athens.”
Everyone knows of the great empires of Babylonia, Persia, Assyria, and Egypt. Prior to these, the greatest empire was Lydia, in what is now western Turkey. Circa 560 BC, Croesus, son of Alyattes, was the king of Lydia. He ruled a world empire that amassed so great a fortune we still refer to someone as being “richer than Croesus.” At the height of his wealth, Croesus heard that the wise man of Athens, Solon, was to visit him.
Upon the arrival of Solon at Sardis, Croesus orders his servants to “give Solon a tour
through the treasuries and point out all the great riches of Croesus.” This they do for three days. On the fourth day, during a great feast, Croesus poses the following question to Solon. “My Athenian guest, word of your wisdom and travels has reached us even here. We hear you have wandered through much of the world in the search for knowledge, so I really cannot resist asking you now whether you have yet seen anyone who surpasses all others in happiness and prosperity?” Croesus thinks, of course, that the wise Solon will declare him, Croesus, to be the happiest, most prosperous, and most fortunate man in the entire world. Solon hesitates not a moment with his response.
“Sire, the happiest, most prosperous, and most fortunate man in the entire world would be Tellus the Athenian!” Croesus, flabbergasted, questions sharply how this could be so. Solon elaborates. “To begin with, Tellus lived in a famous city and had good and noble children, and he saw all his children and grandchildren surviving him. Besides, he was well off, at least by our standards of living, and he ended his life in the greatest glory, for he came to the aid of the Athenians in a battle against their neighbors in Eleusis and forced them to flee before he died most nobly on the battlefield. The Athenians buried him at public expense in the very place where he fell and gave him great honors.”
Solon continues to elaborate the good fortune of Tellus when Croesus is spurred to interrupt, “Well, then, who is the second most happy and fortunate man in the entire world?” To which Solon interjects, with no pause whatsoever,
“Why, sire, that would be Cleobis and Biton.”
“Who? Why? What? Croesus explodes.
Solon explains. “These young men were Argives who had enough resources to live on and, in addition, were physically fit, as is shown by the fact that they both won prizes at athletic contests. Furthermore, the Argives were giving a festival to Hera, the wife of Zeus. The mother of Cleobis and Biton was of ill health and required to be taken to the shrine in a wagon. As it turned out, the oxen were still far away in the fields and could not be brought in. With time running out, her sons, Cleobis and Biton, put themselves under the yoke and, while the mother rode, ran, pulling the cart the five miles to the shrine. Everyone there saw this feat: the men showered praises on the strength of these athletes and the women commended their mother for being blessed with such good sons. The gods looked so favorably on this that when the two sons fell asleep in the sanctuary, they never awoke again. This was the end of their lives. The Argives made statues of them and gave dedications to them at Delphi. No man could have greater fortune.”
Well, at this point, Croisus is thoroughly exasperated and explodes, “Solon, seeing all my wealth, how can you say such nonsense?”
The undaunted Solon explains. “Croesus, during a man’s life he will see and experience many things. Every day of his life brings with it something unlike any other day. A great many things happen to a man, not of his own doings, but by chance. Many of these things are bad. Some good. You appear to be very wealthy and to rule over many people, but I cannot yet tell you the answer you asked for until I learn how you have ended your life. You see, the man who is very wealthy is no more happy and prosperous than the man who has only enough to live from day to day, unless that wealthy man retains his wealth and good fortune right up until the day he dies. If a man lives his life well and ends it well, then he, alone, deserves to be called happy and prosperous. But before he dies, refrain from judging him.”
As you might guess, Croesus dismissed Solon, thinking him worthless and extremely ignorant for overlooking the obvious magnificence of Croesus.
During the next five years, the oldest son of Croesus is killed in a hunting accident, apparently the unwitting fault of the father. Croesus is grief-stricken for two years. Following this, Croesus sends to the oracle at Delphi asking if he should attack the Persians. The oracle responds, “If you wage war against the Persians, a great empire will be destroyed.”
Croesus leads the largest army in the world against the second largest army in the world. The Persians defeat the Lydians. Croesus tries to escape. The only remaining son of Croesus, a mute, unknowingly betrays his father to the Persians. A great empire is, indeed, destroyed, Lydia.
Now, we come to the point of our story, a strong point, indeed. As a technologist, there are many things in your experiences that have the potential to trip you up, things that can negate all the good you have done, tackle you short of your goal. Decisions will arise that can tear down your credibility, destroy your integrity, bring down your kingdom, so to speak.
Be cautious and on guard. Every day brings different opportunities and new exposures. Some are life changing. Be circumspect. Choose wisely. If you make a mistake and subsequently ignore it, it will most assuredly come back to haunt you, probably at the peak of your career, as with Joe Paterno. Correct your mistakes while you can.
Sustain and maintain your integrity, especially as you get higher and higher on the ladder of responsibility. Do not let your increasing maturity and status in life allure you into being complacent. Stay alert.
If you do these things, you will find yourself a master at technology persuasion. Solon would deem that you lived and died the most fortunate of men, the most fortunate of women.
Herodotus (484-425 BC) compiled the world’s first history, a treatise he titled the “Inquiries.” It is from the “Inquiries,” translated by Andrea L. Purvis, that I have paraphrased.