my definition of success
today i am very glad to be here to share with you my ideas of success. what is success? it is what everyone is longing for.sometimes success would be rather simple. winning a game is success; getting a high grade in the exam is success; making a new friend is success; even now i am
standing here giving my speech is somehow also success.
however, as a person’s whole life is concerned, success becomes very
complicated. is fortune success? is fame success? is high social status success? no, i don’t think so. i believe success is the realization of people’
s hopes and ideals.nowadays, in the modern society there are many people
who are regarded as the successful. and the most obvious characteristics of hem are money, high position and luxurious life. so most people believe that s success and all that they do is for this purpose. but the problem is wether it is real success. we all know there are always more money, higher position and better condition in front of us. if we keep chasing them, where is the end? what will satisfy us at last? therefore, we can see, to get the real success we must need something inside, which is the realization of
people’ hopes and ideals.
different people have different ideas about success; cause people’s hopes and ideas vary from one another. but i am sure every success is dear to everybody, cause it is not easy to come by, cause in the process of our striving for success, we got both our body and soul tempted, meanwhile we are enlightened by the most valuable qualities of human beings: love, patient, courage and sense of responsibility. these are the best treasures. so now i am very proud that i have this opportunity to stand here speaking to all of you. it is my success, cause i raise up to challenge my hope.
what is success? everyone has his own interpretation as i do. but i am sure
every success leads to an ever-brighter future. so ladies and gentlemen, believe in our hopes, believe in ourselves, we, every one of us, can make a
successful life! wish you all good success!
The story not only caters to everyone's inward yearning for success, but also emphasizes the inseparability of the process and the result. The reward of success will be much amplified if the path leading towards it is treacherous, and vice versa. If a person inherits his father's millions and leads an easy life, he is not a successful person even in material terms, because there are no difficulties involved in his achieving affluence. The term "success", to be sure. will not sit still for easy definition. But as I understand it, the true meaning of success entails a combination of both the process and the satisfactory result of an endeavor. To clarify my view, let me give another analogy.
If we changed the rules of football, greatly enlarged the goal and sent away David Seaman or any other goal keeper, so that another David, namely David Beckham, could score easily, then scoring would not give him the thrill of accomplishment and the joy that it brings. If we further changed the rules by not allowing Arsenal's defenders to defend, so that Beckham needed only to lift a finger, actually a toe, to score, then there would be no game at all, because the meaning of winning would have disappeared. In accepting the challenge, in surmounting the difficulties and in enduring the hardship, success acquires its value. The sense of attainment varies in proportion to the degree of difficulties on overcomes.
The concept of success is not constant but relative because the nature of difficulty is also relative. Something you do effortlessly might pose a great difficulty for a handicapped person. In acquiring the ability to do the same as you can, he or she achieve success. That's why we greatly admire Stephen Hawking, because, though confined to a wheel chair, he has contributed greatly to the field of science.
I myself, a rather shy person by nature who easily suffer from stage fright, had to pluck up great courage to take part in a speech contest like this. I could have stayed away and had an easy time of it by not entering the university level contest.But I chose to accept the challenge and to face the difficulties. Now here I am. If I come out first, it will be a great success for me. If I come out last-I hope this will not be the case-but if I come out last, I will not call my attempt a failure, but will also celebrate it as a true success, because part of my goal is my own character training-to do more assertive, to be brave in face of difficulties. For me, it is a meaningful step forward, small as it is, in the long journey toward the final success in my life, because I have truly gained by participating.
Let us return to our handsome young prince and the 4-step definition of success. You my have noticed that the usual worldly criteria of wealth, position and fame were not mentioned as part of the story, but rather, it emphasized the process of overcoming difficulties. The ancient wisdom had already defined the meaning of success, and this is my definition, too.
Thank you.
Whether there's afterlife, the answer has never been the same. The atheists deny after life, believing that our life is no more than from the cradle to the grave. They may care about their illustrious names after death; they may feel attached to the affection of their offspring, but they never lay their hopes on their afterlife. They may also say that good will be rewarded with good, and evil with evil, but they don't really believe any retribution in their after life.
However, in the religious world or among the superstitious people, the belief in afterlife is very popular. They do not only believe in afterlife, but thousands of reincarnations as well. In the mysterious world, there are the paradise and the hell, the celestial beings and the gods, the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas.
Maybe they really believed it, or maybe they just wanted to make use of people's veneration, the ancient emperors always declared that they were the real dragons, the sons of God, while the royal ministers claimed to be the reincarnations of various constellations. But can the stars reincarnate?
Many people burn incense and kowtow, do good deeds and strive for virtues, not just for the present, but mainly to let God see their sincerity so as to be reborn into a better afterlife, or to achieve the highest enlightenment after several lives of practice. They do believe in afterlife. But I can't help asking: Suppose there were no afterlife, would you still do good deeds and strive for virtues? And If God does not see what you are doing, would you still be so upright and selfless? If you work, not for serving the public and liberating the others, but just for a better afterlife of your own, isn't it a little too selfish? Comparing with this kind of believers, those who don't believe in afterlife, but still keep doing good deeds, are the most sincere and honest philanthropists, because they do them not for themselves but for other.
You may wonder if I believe in afterlife. My answer is: I know nothing about my previous life, so I dare not make improper comments on afterlife. But I do hope there's afterlife! Because our present life is so short that so many things slip away before our proper understanding. I have so many dreams, so many wishes, so many ambitions, as well as so many regrets and concerns. If there were no afterlife, all of them will remain unrealized!
I'm not contented with the present commonplace life, I'm very much attached to the affections that should have been mine but have been washed away by the hurrying time, and I yearn for the perfection and maturity if I could start all over again. So believe it or not, I'd rather there were afterlife.