<p>Prompt: Can success be disastrous?</p>
<p>Answer:</p>
<p>Some say that the end justifies any and all means, implying that any route to success is acceptable given that it achieves the desired end goal. However, after plowing ahead and achieving “success” the person may find that they are no happier than the started. Success can be disastrous when one doesn’t plan out the possible outcome of their actions and “isn’t careful what they wish for.” In many cases the person will realize that they were happier before, but that the process is now irreversible.</p>
<p>For example, in George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, Snowball the pig thinks that converting the farm to a communist society will improve the farm animal’s work conditions. In the process of establishing an equal society, he fails to account for animal greed, and gets betrayed by his political partner. He accomplished his original goal of taking the farm away from it’s human owners, but as a result was banished from his own home, while life conditions for the animals declined below their original levels. </p>
<p>Animal Farm draws a parallel to many communist governments in the time it was written. During Stalin’s reign of communist Russia, he began with the intention of creating a peaceful society with equal incomes and shared property. The Russian people originally supported Stalin’s campaign, but as his government grew corrupt and strayed from its ideals, the people of Russia had no place to turn. The had succeed in bringing about a communist government, but had no way of escaping the cruel dictatorship it had become. This illustrates that what one wishes will happen is not always reflective of the actual end condition: in this case, success was disastrous.</p>
<p>In our modern society, people of all ages spend a big part of their lives engrossed with video games, TV, and the entire gamut of technological toys. Scientists have worked for decades to develop these products in order to advance human civilization, but in many cases, they are having the opposite effect. Children play video games instead of playing outside and developing social skills, teenagers sped all of their free hours staring at a screen displaying Netflix or Amazon Prime, and even adults consider social media to be more appealing than tangible conversation. Technology that had the intention of connecting our world didn’t succeed on many fronts, instead having the terrible effect of distancing people from each other.</p>
<p>Even those with the best intentions, “who propel themselves towards the achievement of one goal” can loose track of the desired end result and cause unwanted consequences. </p>
<p>Thank you for your comments!!!</p>