Letters

The Secrets of Ambition

Our article about how the will to succeed is affected by genes, gender, privilege and persistence sparked a lively debate between readers who appreciated the broad diversity of the people we profiled and readers who rejected wealth and fame as the most important indicators of a fulfilled life

You provided a fascinating analysis of why and how some of us have that inner fire of ambition while others do not [Nov. 14]. Your article might drive some readers to ask, Am I or can I be successful in my career? Sometimes we need a push to leave what we are doing and find something that we can be more successful at. A focus on individual ambition and financial success, however, is not healthy. If we ignore civility and empathy, we only exacerbate the problem of social decay. Our role models should be those whose ambition and success bring about betterment for the whole of society, not just themselves.

ROBERT PITTS JR. San Ramon, Calif.

The premise that ambition is the "need to grab an ever bigger piece of the resource pie before someone else gets it" confuses ambition with greed and cutthroat competitiveness. Nature may be a zero-sum game, but civilization is not. Ambitious people don't just grab a bigger piece of the pie; they make the pie bigger, so there's more to go around. Ambitious people brought us the printing press, the personal computer, medical advances and agricultural efficiencies undreamed of 100 years ago.

MARY JACOBS Dallas

Sometimes what we call ambition is simply talent so great it cannot contain itself. Mozart, Einstein and Bill Gates come to mind. But in other cases ambition is just greed. Many of the famous folk in your story fit the latter category.

KEN TAUB St. James, N.Y.

Your article was full of scientists' research and perspectives, but your list of successful people didn't include any scientists. They are equally ambitious, and they work long, hard hours because they are in a highly competitive field. They too are passionate about what they do. Any feature on excellence and success should highlight our scientists, architects and engineers.

TIMOTHY C. MARZULLO Ann Arbor, Mich.

TIME revealingly separated the myths from the facts. Your report showed that ambitious people are limited not by birthplace or skin color but only by the size of their dreams. Your examples of success came from different backgrounds and races. Mediocrity may not be excusable after all.

CHIJINDU NWORGU Baltimore, Md.

Your cover line on "What separates life's go-getters from its also-rans" was insulting to most of humanity. Look at any troubled company or organization, and you'll find an excess of bumbling go-getters who only make it harder for the selfless also-rans who really keep things going. Remember the people who quietly encouraged and aided your growth (teachers, relatives), and ask yourself which camp each resides in.

ERNIE HENNINGER Harrodsburg, Ky.

Staying power is important, but success has many more elements than ambition. Talent, vision and just plain luck play a role too. Perhaps the greatest ambition a person can have is to be a complete human being. That's what I will teach my children.

TODD R. LOCKWOOD South Burlington, Vt.

I enjoyed reading your article about ambition as I relaxed on my sofa and munched some popcorn. I'm now working up the ambition to go make dinner and finish the laundry.

ANNETTE BREHM West Lafayette, Ind.

I wish that your article had featured ordinary folks whose ambition drove them to be successful physicians, caregivers, inventors and scientists--people who actually work to keep humankind alive and functioning. Here's to the B-team players!

BILL LENTERS Rockford, Ill.

Congratulations on your excellent article on the roots and manifestations of ambition in our society. I was bothered, however, by the reverence for material achievement and its use as the measure of a life well lived. What about the pursuit of success in ways that do not result in money or fame? It is wrong to glorify the achievements of those who have shoved their way to the top for the sole purpose of attaining personal riches and renown.

CAITLIN MALONEY Glencoe, Ill.

Failure in Fallujah?

"Looking Out on Hostile Territory," your story on why the Iraqi city of Fallujah is still a threat despite last year's efforts to wipe out the insurgent forces there [Nov. 14], quoted a Marine officer as saying, "You've almost had insurgency Darwinism. All the stupid ones are dead." The surviving terrorists in Fallujah may be the smart ones in the short term, but their willingness to destroy their innocent countrymen will ensure their ultimate extinction. And that will be the fate of all fanatical terrorists.

RAY GREGORY Norfolk, Va.

Perhaps we are looking in the wrong direction for the antidote to violence in Iraq. When Saddam Hussein was in power, he suppressed most resistance through sheer force and an aggressive, overwhelming response to any uprising. I'm sure that the Kurds and the Shi'ite majority, with the support of the U.S., could deal with the Fallujah insurgents in Sunni-dominated areas. Sometimes the antidote is a bitter pill to swallow.

DAVID HICKS Duluth, Ga.

Shadowy Cells

Your NOTEBOOK item "Outing Secret Jails" [Nov. 14] said the Washington Post reported that the CIA has held captured al-Qaeda members in covert detention centers in several East European countries as well as in Thailand, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Holding prisoners in secret and denying them recourse to judicial hearings in a timely fashion are more than appalling. The Bush Administration seems not to understand that if you want to "export" democracy, you need to act like a democracy, not a totalitarian state. Such actions undermine our stated reason for occupying Iraq. If President Bush is intent on remaking Iraq into a democracy, he needs to start acting like a civilized leader.

MALETTE POOLE Kure Beach, N.C.

Streets of Fire

RE your reporting on violent protests in France [Nov. 14]: The rioters, who are mostly Arab or black, may also be French, although they say they don't feel as if they are treated like "real" French citizens. But what is a French citizen? My country is in the middle of a deep national identity crisis. The population doesn't know what it wants, and the politicians don't know what to offer voters. The cause of the riots goes beyond economic and social problems. France is a radically changing society, and it needs something or someone to give it direction. French citizens need a reason to respect our laws and authorities. We need a reason to come together.

JOHN-EDOUARD SILVA Paris

France has absorbed waves of immigrants from many countries. Those newcomers came from a broad spectrum of the economic and political landscape, yet eventually most of them assimilated into the French population. Why is that not happening with the Muslim community? Muslims were welcomed and provided with government assistance that they would never have received in their own Islamic countries. Although it is incumbent on governments to provide adequate education and job opportunities to minorities, it is also the responsibility of Muslim communities embedded in the West to start asking themselves the hard questions about their failure to assimilate. Until then, there will be little hope of any change.

JOSEPH PALAZZO Laval, Que.

Before we Americans look down our noses at the French for allowing extreme inequality to fester for so long, we should pay attention to what TIME said: if those problems aren't addressed, "the rage and resentment inflaming the streets will surely continue to smolder." That is true not only of France but also of certain parts of Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles and any number of other U.S. cities. We will be forced to confront the same inequalities. It's a question of when, not if.

NEEL BLAIR Chicago

God and Science

While I applaud Nobel-prizewinning physicist Eric Cornell's evenhanded call for moderation in the intelligent-design debate [Nov. 14], I long to see an article that examines the causality of the controversy and suggests how it might be resolved. Among my friends who are adherents of the doctrine of God-inspired intelligent design, the issue isn't one of conflicting scientific theories but of a desire to make science work for them in the effort to live a purposeful and successful life. We need to focus on finding a solution rather than repeating the same arguments for 100 years.

RICK DOSSEY Carmel, Ind.

Cornell says there should be no theology (or intelligent design) taught in science classes and no science in religion classes. Not many high schools, however, have religion classes. In my high school years, I remember struggling to reconcile religious teachings with the theory of evolution. I think religious students would be more comfortable if they were told that science looks at things differently than religion does, and that although they will learn about evolution in science class, it does not mean they must give up their religious faith. There are truths in both.

SUSAN ZIMMER Bonita, Calif.

There have been many times when religion has fallen behind science and also when efforts have been made to reassert its authority. Intelligent design is a fleeting but dangerous effort to maintain a position that, in the face of science, becomes less and less credible with the passage of time.

ROY HEATH Truro, England

Yet Another Guy

Now that Samuel Alito Jr. has been nominated to become an associate justice of the Supreme Court [Nov. 14], will someone please make the argument that the biggest reason he should not be confirmed is his gender? If the Supreme Court is to reflect the nation's demographics, at least half its members should be women. The court's overwhelming maleness isn't a fair representation of the majority of Americans. Surely the legal profession has at least one woman as competent as Alito.

GLORIA J. KIESTER Northfield, Minn.

Politely Succeeding

As a businesswoman, I found your piece on the growing number of Chinese taking classes in Western etiquette very informative--and frightening [Nov. 14]. It said more about how much money the U.S. stands to lose, and China to gain, over the next 10 years than about how polite the Chinese may eventually become. Although I wholeheartedly applaud the efforts to teach helpful social skills to the masses, I am a bit concerned about the consequences we business owners here in the U.S. will face with the inevitable success of the Chinese. It's probably time for Americans to order out for classes in Mandarin.

MAURA GRABER Ontario, Calif.