[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 96 (Friday, July 17, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H5847]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       SUCCESS IN LIFE REQUIRES THE HEART, THE MIND AND THE SOUL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Tiahrt) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to take a minute today to focus on 
what it takes to be successful in life, because I believe that building 
a great nation and maintaining its status requires at least three 
elements of success from its citizens. Those elements include the 
heart, the mind and the soul.
  I believe that success, in part, is determined by what WE have in OUR 
heart. I know a man today who is successful. He has a promising career 
in developing computer programs. He has four sons, a lovely wife and he 
owns a couple of acres on God's green earth. He lives within the clause 
that is in our Declaration of Independence that says pursuit of 
happiness, which can be stated as living the American dream.
  But his desire started early in life. He grew up the second son, in a 
family where his older brother got a lot of attention, sort of in his 
shadow, but he chose to make his own mark early in life, and he felt it 
in his heart. He chose football to stand in his own light, though he 
was not physically big. The choice was probably because his brother had 
some recognition in playing football.
  In his senior year, as I recall, he was only about 160 pounds. But 
even though he was not big, he chose to play in a tough position, nose 
guard, right in the middle of the line, in the middle of the defensive 
line where all the big boys like to play. He played hard, he gave it 
his all. All season. He played with heart. He felt it inside, and size 
did not matter. He played so well that he was named to an all-State 
team. And I was very proud of that young man. His name is Tom Tiahrt, 
my younger brother.
  I believe success has to come from the heart. It also has to come 
from the mind. In the mid-1980s, a young man from the Midwest had a 
good idea. It was captured in his mind, and he was working out the 
details, thinking of a new way, and he wanted it to escape his mind and 
market desktop computers. But in order to do that, he needed some 
money, some capital to get this idea off the ground. So he went to the 
bank and he was told no. But that idea just kept stirring in his mind, 
and he went to another bank and then to another and another. And the 
message was the same. No, no, no.
  Finally, he was able to get some capital from those who had faith in 
him, his family. His grandmother had a CD that was maturing. But 
instead of buying another CD, she loaned him the $10,000. He obtained 
another $5,000 from his brother and started a company that today is a 
billion-dollar business. The company is called Gateway 2000, and the 
owner is called Ted Waite, a true success story. He had a good idea in 
his mind, and he made that idea successful.
  I think we must temper our drive for success. If we have it in our 
mind and we hold it in our hearts, we still must temper it. The good 
book, God's holy words, say, and I will paraphrase, that if we gain the 
whole world, in other words, if we are successful, even tremendously 
successful, if we gain the whole world, and it goes on to say, and lose 
our own soul, then what have we achieved?
  Success is not truly success if we lose our own soul. If we turn our 
back on God, if we forget our family, if we deny those values and 
virtues that built this great Nation, honesty, integrity, hard work, 
commitment to our faith, our family, our country, our God, then we deny 
true success.
  Mr. Speaker, success, or pursuit of happiness, living the American 
dream, means not only success with our heart and our mind, but also it 
has to include our soul.

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