The Failure of Success

This is a research essay I wrote for my English Class. Success was my topic and I had to find sources of information pertaining to my topic (That is why I have citations within the essay). Anyway I found this writing experience beneficial and enlightening. There are also parallels in my previous blog post (The Value in a Flower) in this essay. I hope you enjoy it!  

         

         Success. The word with consistently inconsistent interpretations. There are the business driven people who boast about their bountiful amount of wealth. There are also the scholarly doctorate degree earning individuals who are devoted to developing their distinguished dignity. There are those who would favor forming a family in their future above anything else. The preceding examples are just a fraction of the various visions of success existent in the world, but can a commonality be found? Yes. Even though there are countless personal interpretations of achievement, an individual’s desire for success causes them to focus more on their own achievement than the people around them. That is where the issue is. While attempting to achieve success, it is pivotal to maintain positive virtues such as compassion, kindness and sincerity in order to induce beneficial outcomes on the world.

It would be best to begin by acknowledging the broad definition of success as achieving a goal that brings you fulfillment (Gladwell 150). In today’s society, it is a despicable, but a forgivable error, to associate success with the possession of large amounts of wealth or obtaining power. Think about it. When someone is elected “Most likely to become successful” in high school, their classmates imagine them obtaining success through the possession of wealth and power. Why aren't they chosen because they seem as though they will achieve their ideal form of happiness? Because even at an adolescent age we despicably accept the shallow and superficial societal definition of success that infects the minds of the whole population. The goal of obtaining an abundance of money isn’t necessarily horrible, however it is not the only goal existent. The large spectrum of success is like the world. On one end there are the heartless wealth and power seekers who are like the bitterly cold arctic. On the opposite end of the spectrum there are the morally influenced individuals who seek a positive change in the world, and they resemble the beautifully warm tropics. The two are completely opposite but they still exist in the same spectrum. We live to achieve success, and we all have our own personal goals, but it is important to remember that the unoriginal societal aim isn’t always the superior one.  

            There are various perceptions of success held around the world, but how do they affect each other? How do those who hold differing interpretations interact? Too often people whose definitions of success do not meet society’s requirements “are viewed as deficient” by the people who hold the common superficial vision of accomplishment (Ruigrok. Para 1). The large “blue-collar folk” social group are an example of those who are victimized by this unfair judgmental crime (Ruigrok. Para 1). They often work hard and productively in occupations such as plumbers, custodians, and construction workers, but they are unfairly viewed as less successful, because they typically lack what the world they live in requires. A college educational degree that will allow you to obtain a plentiful amount of wealth is deemed a necessity to live, and those who lack it are viewed as inferior. No one should be viewed worthless or inferior because their vision of success does not meet the criteria of the world. Artists, Businessmen, musicians, lawyers, the poor, the wealthy,  the “blue collars”, and the “white collars”- we all have the desire for prosperity, but our individual strives for success involves different combinations of vision, motive, and effort than the rest of our peers.  Maybe someone view’s success as doing what they enjoy rather than what society claims they should strive for. Maybe someone else is just interested in putting food on the table. Maybe someone has a dream they are determined to accomplish. The motives and visions vary. The point is prejudices towards visions of success are causing division, conflict, and problems among people in society. The only way to solve this issue is by having moral and wholesome intentions when it comes to human relationships. We need to acknowledge that no one is superior to another because of a specific classification of achievement. If we practice an accepting attitude toward success, we will start treating everyone with equal amount of respect and kindness which will counteract the negative problems the shallow societal interpretation of success has caused.   The social conflict and injustice caused by the single supreme perception of achievement is an evident problem in society, but there are also problems that are inconspicuously caused by the human need for success.   

            When an individual has a goal, they begin to focus a majority of their attention and efforts on achieving that particular aim. Our dedication towards personal fulfillment precipitates our distraction and selfishness towards others, because we become excessively focused on the needs of ourselves rather than of others. Humans are vulnerable to the disease of selfishness, and a source of infection is the personal desire for achievement.The side effects to the disease are carelessness and forgetfulness. What are they not caring for? What are they forgetting? The real question is who. Who are they not the caring for? Who are they forgetting? The answer is simple. The other seven billion individuals who exist in the world. Not caring about the welfare of others is a wrongly accepted side effect of the selfish desires for personal success. The value of hard work is wired into many people’s minds, but the idea behind hard work can often become misconstrued into one that demands a competitive edge. A common view involving any type of success requires us to believe that in order to reach any type of fulfillment we must triumph over others and become the best. By believing in this ideal we instigate others failure. If a job is wanted someone else who interviewed won’t get it. If a promotion is wanted someone else will lack that opportunity. Acceptance into a college is wanted, people will have to be disappointed and not let in. People simply don’t care about others misfortunes as long as it means their success. The careless aspect of success is excessively accepted in today’s society. Forgetting there are others who desire fulfillment is a another major issues triggered by the personal desire for achievement. There are many people in the world who lack a sufficient amount of help because of the forgetful actions caused by the selfish influences of individual success. We forget about the needs of others because our needs distract us. We forget to show kindness, compassion, and sincerity with one another. We forget that we can help a stranger. We forget we can donate to a charity. We forget that there's more to life than wealth and power. We forget loving each other should be the priority. We forget that we aren't the only ones in the world. We are simply forgetful because our personal desires hinder us from remembering. Now that an investigation has been completed and problems directly relating to an individual's desire for success have been discovered, a question remains. How can these problems be solved?

            Life is never simple. We don’t have a single vision of success that we dedicate our whole lives too. We live our lives with a series of goals, and we prioritize those aims into least important and most important classifications. The greater importance of the goal the greater influence it will have on our lives. I made a statement in the first paragraph of this essay claiming people who desire success will inevitably become focused on their own achievement rather than others prosperity. There is, however, an exception to that claim. It is an exception so valuable it should be classified as the most important vision of success in our lives. A vision so pure and genuine it will only influence beneficial outcomes. What is this exceptional vision? Moral success. An ideal inspiration that can change the world.

            Moral success champions maintaining “an element of hard work, diligence, honesty and all positive values” when attempting to achieve success (Otta para 6). Moral success makes acting kind, compassionate, lovingly, sincerely, and with care a priority. It is more than the limited kindness shown to the people we encounter every day. It is showing care and compassion to those unknown. Imagine a man who waits outside a busy Starbucks asking everyone and anyone to get him a coffee, and being repeatedly rejected and dismissed. An individual who revers moral success would purchase a venti coffee and a chocolate chip cookie and generously give it to him. An individual who values moral success doesn't fast forward, ignore, or complain about charity ads. They take the occurrence as an inspiration to help someone them may never meet. Someone with moral success would realize that the promotion or job doesn't mean as much to them as it could mean to someone else. Someone with the vision of moral success lives their life valuing the fulfillment of others. If we allow our morals become our primary influence in our lives, our achievement begins break the basic boundaries of benefit. Our success will not only benefit us, but it will also successfully benefit those around us. The personalized vision of success will become obsolete, and human selfishness will vanish. If we as humans who share a planet with 7 billion other people make moral success a necessity, wonderful, peaceful, and loving advancements in human relation and prosperity will finally form. Won’t that provide for a better world? Isn’t that something worth striving for?