<p>Can somebody please grade my essay for me? Ahh, I’m so rusty on my essay writing… </p>
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<p>ASSIGNMENT:
Do you agree that persistence is the major factor in success, and that talent, genius, and education play, at best, secondary roles?</p>
<p>ESSAY:
Everyone has heard of the tale of the tortoise and the hare. The hare, known for its innate speed and agility, was sure to win the race-- after all, how could the tortoise ever possibly beat it? It may have seemed an unimaginable feat, but in the end, the tortoise prevailed. And although it may seem like a simple children’s story, the story of the tortoise and the hare is a fable that shares a universal message- that despite the odds, those who persist can, in fact, win the race.</p>
<p>Astor Piazzolla was an Argentine composer, born in 1921, who had grown up in New York. As a child, he learned to play the bandoneon, an instrument which was given to him so he would not forget his Latin American roots. Astor thrived and became a child prodigy with his bandoneon, and soon became sought after by many great musicians throughout the world to come and study music. With various different teachers and through various different jobs, Astor learned the art of classical composition. However, Astor was never able to fully immerse himself in his work until he realized that his passion laid not in classical music, but in his native Latin American music. He took to recreating the traditional tango, a task that was met with much opposition and criticism. The tango was considered a constant in Latin America, something that would never change. But with slow and steady progress, Astor pushed to spread his newly created style of tango music, and surely enough, his music started becoming popular throughout North America and Europe, and eventually, Argentina as well.</p>
<p>Another example of how persistence prevails can be seen in sports. Two of my friends, Gianna and Britney, started running track together in their freshman year. Britney was the faster sprinter from the very beginning, even without previous coaching. Both of her parents, however, were both athletes and had pushed Britney to play sports, which she had been doing her whole life. On the other hand, track and field was Gianna’s first sport. She was neither the fastest, nor the smartest runner. She had trouble learning the warm up drills and was horribly uncoordinated. Britney had always beat Gianna, in both practices and meets. However, after season ended, Britney stopped training for a year, while Gianna continued running almost every single day until the following season had arrived. On the first meet, Britney and Gianna lined up at the start-- their first time running against each other in a year. Britney had a smug expression on her face. Gianna, next to her, was focused, showing no signs of either smugness or fear. The gun went off and the two exploded out. For the first 50 meters, they fought, side by side, but then Gianna started inching away. The gap became wider and wider, and by the time Gianna crossed the finish, she had left Britney 25 meters away. </p>
<p>Gianna crossed the line with the sweet smile of victory on her face, pumping her fist in the air. It was that moment that she had realized all of the painstaking, hard work had paid off. It hadn’t made a difference to her that she was never the fastest to begin with, nor the smartest. It hadn’t stopped her from getting up everyday, through both sun and rain, through the hot and the cold, to train harder than before. And in the end, just like the tortoise had, Gianna had prevailed. Persistence, indeed, had won.</p>