In his work titled ‘Laugh, Kookaburra,’ essayist, David Sedaris, writes, “Pat was driving, and as we passed the turnoff for a shopping center she invited us to picture a four-burner stove…This was not a real stove but a symbolic one, used to prove a point at a management seminar she’d once attended. “One burner represents your family, one is your friends, the third is your health, and the fourth is your work.” The gist, she said, was that in order to be successful you have to cut off one of your burners. And in order to be really successful you have to cut off two.”  Astonishingly adept, the quote may seem, at implying that success comes only with extreme sacrifice, it should not be held as true for all types of success. Sedaris’s claim generalizes success as only one type, when, in reality, success differs from each person to the other. For one person, success can mean financial success, when, for another, success can take form in spiritual success. With that mindset, it is by no means valid to express that there is only one road to success. It becomes necessary for one to scrutinize the four burner stove image in order to comprehend the validity of Sedaris’s claim.

In this context, Sedaris’s four-burner stove illusion serves to help the reader visualize the four main components of a person’s life. However, the writer ceases to impress upon the reader the fact that these four components are also the pillars of one’s happiness, or, to use a less specific phrase, one’s general well-being. It is certainly true that to sacrifice one of those pillars is a natural course of action for people with a certain mindset, but this action has never extended, does not, and will not extend as to apply to all people. As it has been previously stated, sacrifice is, under some circumstances, necessary, but does it ultimately lead to “success?” It is necessary to point out that just like a building, or any form of architectural being, cannot stand on four pillars, a human cannot reach happiness without these four pillars. Since success is, in most cases, based on happiness, it is logical to deduce that success cannot be established without each of the four pillars. Furthermore, the illusion provided by Sedaris’s quote is the illusion of a four-burner stove. Suppose that one of the four burners malfunctioned, would the stove continue to provide its ultimate service, as it used to before this event? Now, if two of the four burners malfunctioned, would the stove be wholly considered as better or more “successful” than it previously was? Most certainly not.

  In addition, the four “burners” mentioned by Sedaris, represent one’s familial relationships, friendship, mental and physical well-being, and career. These four aspects serve as, quite simply, the essence of humanity. One is not to be considered human if he or she does not acquire these four necessities. If one is of good health, and has reached an admirable point in his or her specific career, what is to differentiate him or her from a machine? What is to make one human, if he or she does not feel the necessity of familial relationships and friendships? What is to make one human, if he or she does not feel the ragged abyss of loneliness, the need to have a shoulder to cry upon? What is to make one human, if he or she does not feel the pain induced by the lack of a mother’s loving hug, a father’s wisdom and experience, a friend’s compassionate pat on the back? What is to make one human, if his or her happiness depends ultimately on how successful the stock market happens to be? What is to make one human, if he or she does not understand that life is not give-and-take, that some objects’ worth cannot be calculated by monetary means? In short, if one is not human, then one cannot be farther from success.

In conclusion, Sedaris’s claim cannot be held as true simply because loss of one of the four “burners” will not lead to ultimate success because success circulates, exclusively, around one’s happiness. In other words, in order to be successful, one must not seek to “cut off” the pillars, but rather to thrive in each pillar. The better a person keeps a balance between the four, the happier a person shall be. Ultimate success is achieved only when a person reaches his or her personal goal, while keeping each of the four “burners” eternally burning.

– Ayah Gouda