I do think it is a very individual thing though. For some women the measure of a great birth is not having stitches, for others it might be having a drug/intervention free birth and for others it might be something else entirely.
Exactly what Trillian said. Because the tearing wasn't really that important to me I have no idea how many stitches I had or even what degree tear it was. All I know is that it did take a while for it to be stitched and it hurt way way way worse than actually birthing my baby and one of my midwives commented that the other midwife did a good job stitching it up. I saw my midwife a few times in the week after the birth and she kept asking about my stitches but the pain was insignificant compared to the pain from my dislodged coccyx