“Achievement is hollow if it only benefits you; true success is measured by how you help others.”
This reminder often came when my younger brother and I grew too focused on outdoing each other, yet it took years for me to truly understand my mother’s words. Growing up only a year apart, my youth was defined by achievements through competition, when every challenge felt like an opportunity to prove my worth. That mindset carried into my education, where every debate tournament, Chinese poetry contest, and final exam was met with an unrelenting desire to succeed. My achievements reinforced the value of hard work, preparation, and the payoff from delayed gratification, but it was my pursuit of a career in law that helped me come to fully appreciate my mother’s words. This epiphany revealed how a legal career will allow me to use my competitive drive in service to others to achieve true success.
The wisdom from her lesson first took shape interning in the legal department at a regional bank. My task was to review fraud cases and assist with asset recovery. At first, the job seemed to center on mundane paperwork amounting to small acts of justice. One day, though, I received a file about a business account that was emptied after several withdrawals that the owner alleged were fraudulent. Initially, the nature of these withdrawals confused me. After consulting my supervisor, he indicated that it did appear to be an unusually complex case. He offered to handle it himself, but the challenge awakened my competitive drive that had long defined me, so I asked to assist with the file.
Over the next week, I listened in on several phone conversations between my supervisor and the client, in which I learned that she was a small business owner and mother who now lacked the funds to pay for her and her family’s necessities. Her voice carried a mix of frustration and fear. Suddenly, my motivation shifted. I was no longer working merely to complete a task or rise to a challenge; instead, I now felt a desire to help and a sense of responsibility. After the funds were recovered, the gratitude in her voice was a greater reward than any acknowledgment or honor I could have earned. This was the first time I understood my mother’s ideal that success is elevated when grounded in service to others.
My understanding of this principle deepened the following summer while working at a criminal defense firm, where I had the chance to consistently channel empathy into action. Many clients faced tragic circumstances, some through their own decisions and others through forces beyond their control. One young man stood out as he was my age and from my hometown, yet he was already married, raising a two-year-old son, attending a local college, and working full time. One date night, however, changed everything. While he and his wife were at a restaurant, a disagreement arose over household expenses, and she eventually called the police, hoping their presence would de-escalate the situation. Based on allegations stemming from the verbal altercation, officers found probable cause to charge him with assault as an act of domestic violence. Even when his wife later asked for the charges to be dropped, the prosecution proceeded, which forced him to step away from both school and work.
Throughout his case, I remained cognizant of both the seriousness of any allegations of domestic abuse, and of how the racial dynamics surrounding a dispute between an African American man and a white woman might have influenced the officers’ interpretation of the encounter. Both considerations made a careful, individualized examination of the evidence imperative to achieving justice. Sitting across from him, I saw not anger, but the quiet fear of someone who felt his side of the story would never be fully heard. I began to see the real weight of what was at stake; a conviction would be more than just a notation on his record or a short time in jail. It would derail his and his family’s entire future. Wanting to do everything I could, I worked well past normal business hours reviewing footage and case law to help prove that his conduct did not satisfy the requirements of the relevant domestic violence statute. He had no prior criminal record, both parties were calm when officers arrived, and neither individual reported an injury. When the case ended in his favor, the relief in his eyes reminded me of my mother’s words.
Reflecting now, I can see how each stage of my life led me here. Competition taught me discipline, challenges forged persistence, and my collegiate experiences strengthened my sense of purpose. Law has revealed what true success looks like: not in striving to stand above others, but in standing beside them. I am still driven to prove myself, but now my reasons have changed. My mother’s words, once distant advice, have become a compass for how I want to live. I no longer measure success by victory alone, but by the difference I make for others. That, to me, is true success. It is success worth pursuing, it is success that has value, and it is success I will seek through the study and practice of law at Boston College.
Chris Campanella is a first-year law student and brand new Impact blogger at BC Law. Contact him at campanc@bc.edu.
