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"The Ladder of Fortune"

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Does the print of Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives (1875) only present a highly fanciful dream, and only the surface of the thousands of dreamlike images of the millions of immigrants at that time? Didactic images like their "Ladder of Fortune" (subtitled "Industry and Morality bring solid rewards. Idle schemes and speculations yield poverty and ruin.") combined religious sentiments with secular ambitions. Do the values depicted at the end of the 19th century still apply today?

Few of us today are inclined to see life as a moral journey in which Industry and Temperance lead to Riches, Honor and The Favor of God. America itself has changed. The idea of social homogeneity is a thing of the past, and certain truths once held to be self-evident -- marriage, religion, a single civic ideal -- have struck some rocky shoals.

(source: Holland Cotter in The New York Times, July 14, 1996)

How do young adolescents of today see their "Ladder of Fortune"? Here are some views.

Table of Contents

There is an individual ladder for everyone

For each person the personal “ladder of fortune” should be different. Everybody has got different aims or different qualities that are important for him. Even “success” is not really defined. Success does not mean to me to become rich or popular, as you can see in the top of my tree. I just want to be satisfied, have fun with my life and also have influence to do something useful for the general public. The most important thing you need to reach these aims is your social background. Without family or friends you just cannot be strong enough. That is why I called the first step of the ladder “social background”. But in my opinion there are some other qualities you need to be successful. For example “humour” and patience”. Without these qualities you can hardly cope with the problems you will have in your life. They make many things easier. The two qualities every person should have and that should lead the whole way to success are “modesty” and “honesty”. Although fewer and fewer people seem to have those qualities these days, in my opinion those qualities are the most important preconditions to have a good conscience and to live in a social community.

Of course, there are many differences between my own ladder of fortune and the original one. The 18^th and 19^th century was the time of first industrial progress, so qualities like “industry”, “punctuality” or “perseverance” became very important to get rich and successful. It was a kind of new morality. Even today many people think this way. But on the other hand the frustration of people who cant´t see the point in their life is growing. They have learned that economy is not everything and that many things go wrong. I consider myself to be one this group of people, that is why I chose different qualities and aims. I want to ease the strictness of our system and, nevertheless, focus on the really important things of life. (L.S., Feb 2008)

The ground is an essential part of the ladder

My idea of "The ladder of fortune“ is divided in three elements: the ground, the ladder and the top of the tree.
The ground symbolizes “support” and is essential for both of the other elements because it supports the ladder by giving it a steady and safe place to stand and it also supports the apples in the top of the tree as it supplies them with water and nutrients. Without the ground neither the ladder nor the tree would be able to exist, which means that without support, you would not be able to reach the apples in the top of the tree or even just climb the first step of the ladder.
The ladder itself consists of the two main poles “education” and “dedication”, which hold all the steps together and are needed the whole way up the three. The two poles can be seen as the necessary framework that provides a firm hold because either of them is essential for a successful life.
The ten steps between the two poles stand for the character traits that a person who wants to reach the top should have. So the ten steps of “personality, responsibility, confidence, honesty, ambition, strength, tolerance, flexibility, patience” and a bit of “fate” guide the way up the tree. In my opinion, all of these ten traits are equally important, if a person wants to be able to reach the top of the tree.

Without a personality you cannot really exist but you also have to take on responsibility for other people and their needs because being self-centred will not take you very far in life. On the other hand you have to be confident and believe in yourself and your abilities while being an honest person all the time. It is also crucial to have ambition and strength to keep going and not to give up. While doing so, one has to have tolerance and flexibility as well, because a narrow-minded person will have no chance to get on with different people or to react to changing situations. Lastly, apart from all these traits, a person always ought to have patience because developing into such a person cannat not be done very quickly. Therefore the traits are arranged in an ascending order of time, one following another and building onto the previous ones.
Finally, at the end of the ladder the person reaches the top of the tree with its twelve apples. I chose apples to visualize the aims because apples are sweet and juicy fruits, which have a taste  nearly everybody likes. Therefore they are the aims a person can achieve if he or she climbed up the ladder step by step while he or she is constantly supported in different ways. These twelve major aims called “health, love, success, enjoyment, satisfaction, continuity, respect, fulfilment, happiness, peace, quality of life” and “friendship” are not individual goals but are, in my opinion, the apples of which everyone of us in his life wants to bite off a bit.

In comparison to the original “Ladder of Fortune” mine differs from it in three ways. First of all, my ladder and everything else belonging to it is based on “support”, symbolized by the ground as mentioned earlier on. This element does not exist in the original drawing but my idea of the ladder of fortune would not have worked without.
The second point is that my character traits and with it my whole ladder differs from the original one because I chose different traits as well as the idea of the two essential poles of “education” and “dedication”. This difference has to do with different cultural backgrounds, different times, different education and different impressions of a good and successful character.
The last differences are, of course, the apples. They are the same fruits on both pictures, but they visualize different aims and, as well as the traits, the aims chosen are connected to a person´s own beliefs, education, her or his background and finally whether he or she is religious. The latter point influenced the original drawing very much.

So all in all it can be said that the differences between the original “Ladder of Fortune” and my version of it are results of different times, education and cultural background. (R.v.D., Feb 2008)

Happiness is more important than money

“My” ladder of fortune deals with well known virtues such as Integrity, Effort or Sincerity, and the  achievements resulting from them. Considering the kind of success most people would like to have, I do not think they can be obtained by being “virtuous” – I mean the desire for a great job with much more money you could ever spend and for having as many people at your command as possible. I think to have really, really much money you either have to inherit a lot or you have to rip other people off. As long as you try to be honest, you will not be taken seriously and be ripped off yourself. That is the reason why ‘Sway’, ‘A lot of money’ and ‘Respect’ are apple cores – you do not reach them observing the qualities on the ladder steps. Of course, ‘Financial Success’ is similar to ‘A lot of money’, so if you talked about very big success, the apple would be eaten up as well, but I think, with these qualities you will achieve a bigger financial success than by being lazy and unfriendly. That’s the reason for the dashed contour of the apple .

Moral concepts, commitments and courage have changed today

Passion: Above all, the passion for what you want plays a major role, because if you like something today, you may not like it tomorrow, but when you feel passion for what you want, there is no way that anything will make it change. Certainly, I think that doing what you love makes you successful immediately.

Education: Education, which is a human right, provides people with the tools and knowledge they need to understand and participate in today’s world. Therefore I think it has to be the supporting pillar of the ladder, as without any knowledge, may it be general or specific, horizons can’t be opened, freedom can’t be extended and opportunities can’t be created. Additionally, successful people are people who stretch themselves and grow continually, learning from all areas of life, including from their mistakes.

Motivation: Motivation is a driving force. In order to accomplish something, you need a driving force, otherwise nothing will happen. You therefore need to know exactly what it is that you want, to possess a strong desire and you need to be willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish your goal. The performance at work is the result of a combination of our skills, abilities and level of motivation. Even the most skilled and experienced persons cannot be peak performers if they are not motivated.

Self-discipline: Self-discipline is important, because to be really able to focus on something demands a lot of self-discipline. If you want something badly enough, you will probably discipline yourself to focus on everything in your power to get it and go beyond your comfort zone.  Self-discipline also helps you to keep working in tough situations and to overcome listlessness. In order to give up instant pleasure and satisfaction for a higher goal, you also have to be highly motivated.

Self-confidence: With self-confidence you can easily go beyond your current limits and situation. Self-confident people trust their own abilities, have a general sense of control in their lives, and they will be able to do what they wish, plan, and expect. So if you want to be successful you need to be self-confident enough to get to the next step of your personal career ladder.

Kindness: Everyone who wants to fly at higher game should be friendly and people oriented. This endears them to others and enables them to lead others to accomplish the task. Although you sometimes have to use unfair methods or treat others in a bad way in order to achieve your aims, I still think kindness is an important thing in human life. Goethe said "Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together. “ If therefore that chain is broken, no one could attain a goal, because everyone depends on the help of others.

Persistence: I think that quality, or better character trait is highly correlated with fortune. Only a few people have the persistence to keep moving forward, and these are the few people who succeed. To keep persistence, you need a strong source of motivation and you need to know how to handle failure. If we persist and persevere through bad times, good times do come.

Creativity: Creative persons are more flexible in unsuspected situations and find it therefore easier to bring up new ideas or concepts. It also makes something positive out of a loss, bad experience or depression. I would describe creative people as curious, intuitive, persistent, and motivated and these are certainly some traits you need for your own pursuit of happiness and fortune.

To conclude, having the stimulus is what will make you put together all qualities mentioned above and find a good way to fortune.

The way people want to achieve fortune and success has maybe not changed over the last centuries, but the activities you want to avoid and the aims you want to achieve surely differ in some way. In the 19^th century for example, it was suggested to people who have just climbed up the career ladder to avoid the trading of stocks as they could have lost their laboured money way too easily. Nowadays people all over the world deal at the stock exchange in order to increase their capital. Additionally, the stock market is one of the most important sources for companies to raise money. It allows businesses to go public, or raise additional capital for expansion. So it is rather an aim to achieve than to avoid. But even today it always bears a risk as people may become addicted to activities like betting, dealing and playing the lottery so that their compulsive gambling can lead to a serious loss of livelihood.

Another big difference makes the attitude of people to religion. In the past especially the Catholics worked hard in order to make sure that they were among the few who were saved by God and not among the many who were lost. If they ever hoped to go to heaven, they had to do the will of the Father. So a lot more people went to church than today and the Sunday was rather a day of rest and not a special shopping Sunday.

I think the moral concepts, commitments and courage of the citizens have changed quite a bit because other things affected by the world of commerce have become more important.

Quite similar, I suppose, remain the qualities you needed and still need to accomplish a goal. On the steps of the “Ladder Of Fortune“ of 1875 you can find industry, courage, perseverance, temperance, honesty and morality. Some of the words are old fashioned synonyms but they basically equal the qualities I listed.

With my personal ladder of fortune I want to achieve aims which make me happy and guarantee a good quality of life. But the question is if financial richness can make you happy. I think that a lot of people would say that they need more money to improve the quality of their lives. So we work hard to make more money, then we get more expensive cars and bigger houses. But when we make more money, have more expensive cars and bigger houses, we immediately start feeling that that is not enough. The more we have, the more we want. So what do we really want and need in order to be happy? I think that the factors I have listed in the crown of my tree, the non-material things, such as health, joy and love, are more important for our happiness. But nowadays money provides a basis for every life. (Li.S., Feb 2008)

The most important aim is to enjoy

Nearly all people in the world try to be successful in life. There are many books entitled “How to be successful” or “How to be lucky in life”. Those books show you how to get rich and they say money is everything you need. But is money really a good aim in life? Are you happy, if you have much money? Parties, cars and expensive travels? The majority of people think so. Money is the key to live a happy life.

Just a few people are as rich as most people want to be. But they often say: money is not all. Family, good friends and health are the most important things in life and are the keys to be successful in life, to be happy. In our world, which is dominated by money, there are some people who say that they are happy and successful in life with nothing, just with themselves. We call them Buddhists. They are beggars. Every day they must ask for food and they have nothing. Anyway they have a peaceful and happy life.

Nobody knows the steps of the ladder of success for all people in the world. Everybody has to take different steps to be successful or happy in life. Everybody defines “success” in another way. My ladder of success shows how to find your own way to success in life. At first you need to have the motivation to find it. To think money is the main aim in life is a quite easy way. Maybe you get rich and you are not happy, then you do not have the motivation to find your own ladder of success. The way to find it is self-realization. You need to find out what you want to do. What makes you feel happy? What is your main aim? Family, money, knowledge or other abilities? This is perhaps the hardest step of the ladder. If you choose wrong, you will fail.

If you think you have found yourself, you need to have the courage to make your wishes come true. This sometimes is a big step. It can be risky or it troubles the life which you have lived before. If you do that step you need also the tenacity to dream your wishes. You must believe in what you have chosen at the second step. Maybe you feel sometimes that you took the wrong decision or maybe your life will be so hard or unhappy that you think this is the wrong way. But you have to believe. Otherwise you will never find out, if you really did choose the wrong aim.

The most important point after you have reached your aim is the ability to enjoy. If you cannot enjoy you will never have success in life or just for a few seconds before another wish will destroy it. (D.S., Feb 2008)

The modern antithesis

“The ladder of fortune” shows an apple tree whose apples stand for aims in life. The ladder is rested against this tree. Its steps and handrails represent the attributes required to reach these aims. In the back temptations are pictured that keep you away from these aims.

To reach “riches”, “success”, “reputation” or a “long life” according to the original picture you have to show qualities such as “morality”, “honesty”, “temperance” and “integrity” and you have to avoid “policy”, “strike” and “stock exchange”.

The picture claims to be instructive, that you do reach the apples if you can climb up every step. But this neither was nor is true. In a complex social system existing in America at that time or even more today it is not possible for anybody to reach “riches” and “influence” only by showing the illustrated qualities. For there are other factors influencing personal success such as class, education and parental funds. Therefore the message of instruction is incorrect.

Beside this aspect there is another, a mandatory one. The artist wants the beholder to behave according to the pictured virtues. And he wants to confirm the established social order through this affirmative request. According to this ladder of fortune from 1875 all poverty and failure are self-inflicted. A poor person who fails showing the required virtues could therefore not reach the treetop and the apples.

The different locations pictured in the background are to be interpreted in the same way. For one thing, the fact that strike is an action to be avoided in the same way as policy and stock exchange shows that the artist has a puritan, moralistic approach or attitude.

If you do want to show a realistic possibility to reach your aims in life in our modern society you would have to choose another image than this kind of ladder. It would not suffice to modernise some of the terms or change some of the aims, because the moralistic character of the image would persist. Of course, there are some qualities you will have to show to reach some special aims. Success in business requires diligence and hard work. To achieve a perfectly happy family you need to be kind and reliable. To reach some aims in life you have to show qualities which exclude other aims. So there is no general “recipe” for fortune, because people have different aims in life.

My own drawing presents a modern antithesis, which also includes the loss of valuable qualities that many people might still appreciate. (K.B., March 2008)