Being Successful

Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” You are not guaranteed to be successful so you must work hard to succeed. If you happen to fall along the way, get back up and try again; failure won’t kill you, it will only make you stronger. What counts the most is that you continue to do your absolute best even though there may be obstacles in your way. This can be seen in each of articles I read as well as in my own experience. Each person in the articles, and myself have had some sort of obstacle to overcome when it came to our education but we never gave up until we were where we wanted or needed to be. If we want to be successful and get a good education we must have determination, encouragement, and fulfillment.

If you want to overcome an obstacle to further your education you must be determined. In “Knowledge is Power” by Anna-Maria Petricic a schoolgirl from Croatia is determined to figure out what the words on her bookmark meant. The bookmark had a picture of superman with the words Knowledge is Real Power written on it. She knew that to have the power that knowledge brought she had to attend college. She had been hearing bad things about the college in her homeland of Croatia so she researched colleges in the United States. She was dismayed because it was very expensive. She came across a private school in Iowa that was offering a work-study program for international students. She ran into the kitchen and exclaimed, “I am going to school in America” (1)! Though her mother asked who was going to pay for it she was determined to have her dream of going to school in America come true.

Another good example of determination is Daisy in “A Journey into Light.” Daisy is a 45 year old college student that overcame an abusive father, illiteracy and the fear of ridicule. Her father moved the family around a lot; Daisy was in seventeen schools between first and sixth grade. She didn’t mind the moving so much until she got behind in school. At the age of sixteen, Daisy dropped out of school. She was in the eighth grade but couldn’t read past a third grade level. Her mother tried to protect her the best way she could but was no match for her abusive father. After she quit school, it took her almost twenty years to teach herself how to read. She managed to do it with the help of a dictionary, stubborn determination, and driving her mother crazy with, “Mom, what word is this” (2)? Daisy now reads any and everything she can get her hands on. She is always searching for the knowledge that was locked away from her for so many years. Daisy said, “Being able to read is like being released from a dark, cold and lonely prison, and at last being able to walk in the warmth and the light of the sun” (3).

Finally, for me, determination is something I strive for. I know that without the proper education I will not be able to succeed in life. I will not being able to live out my dream of having a big family because I cannot afford it or make good money because I didn’t get my degree. My best friend, Heather, in Kindergarten had been having trouble reading. I was determined to help Heather become a better reader. I remember the two of us sitting in her room and we would read as I helped her with the words she had trouble pronouncing. Throughout elementary school I never had any trouble reading and I actually thought school was fun, probably because we got to go to recess. Once I graduated from sixth grade it was time for a new school and basically a whole new world. My grades started slipping and I didn’t like school that much anymore. I didn’t do my homework and I just didn’t care about my education anymore. Once I graduated High school I discovered that I wasn’t going to get anywhere unless I went to college and got a degree; most office jobs require you to have a degree.

Along with being determined, encouragement helps in a big way in getting your education. A good example of this is in “Knowledge is Power.” A couple weeks after the schoolgirl from Croatia wrote a letter to the University she received a thick envelope in the mail; she had been accepted. Her mother took a strong stand of support when she found out how understanding the University was. Her mother vowed to do any and everything she had to do to make her daughters dream become a reality. Her mother had borrowed money from a friend to deposit into her account so her daughter could obtain the bank’s confirmation she had the funds required by the University. However, at the last minute, her mom’s friend needed the money back and she was forced to withdraw the money. Her mother was willing to sell her old paintings from a famous Croatian artist who was now deceased. Her mother had been collecting them for as long as she could remember and had planned to open an art gallery in the artists name but instead she told her daughter, “You have to write an ad for the weekend paper” (4). She knew those paintings meant more to her mother than anything but she was prepared to sell them so her daughter could live her dream of going to college in America.

Secondly, in “A Journey into Light” Daisy’s mother tried her best to keep her father from beating Daisy and eventually left her father to try to give her a better education. This was her mother’s way of encouraging Daisy to learn to read and fulfill her dreams. When she got older she got a job at Allied Signal and after