<p>Excerpt: “The old saying be careful what you wish for,” may be an appropriate warning. The drive to achieve a particular goal can dangerously narrow one’s perspective and encourage the fantasy that success is one endeavor will solve all of life’s difficulties. In fact, success can sometimes have unexpected consequences. Those who propel themselves toward the achievement of one goal often find their lives are worse once “success” is achieved than they were before.</p>
<p>Assignment: Can success be achieved?</p>
<p>People always crave for success and often view it as the panacea for all their problems. However, when the motives behind the success sought are based on selfish, unjustifiable, or questionable desires, usually the success that is achieved will come together with negative consequences. Moreover, when we seek success based on negative motives and are willing to use any means possible to achieve that success, more often than not we will not hesitate to use illegal and immoral methods to achieve that success.
In the book The Great Gatsby, the protagonist Jay Gatsby was ashamed of his poor background and assumed that becoming rich at any cost, even through illegal activities, was necessary to achieve success in life and love. However, when success was finally in his hands, he found the success meaningless and empty. In the end, his success did not bring him true love or happiness but only sadness and isolation. Those who befriended them were only attracted to his money and intended ill will towards him.
In the book The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray assumed that achieving eternal beauty was a pivotal point in lifes success. However, his quest for eternal beauty was based on his unmitigated vanity and narcissism. When the said success was achieved, Dorian Gray paid the ultimate price by sacrificing his soul, true love, and his only true friend. His success in achieving eternal beauty became meaningless in the end because the negative consequences it brought.
An athlete who takes performance enhancing drugs will find while success comes rapidly, his body will have to pay the price. Consumption of such drugs will bring many serious ailments to the athlete in his later years. In the end, the athletes selfish motives to succeed at the cost of sacrificing fairness and sportsmanship will cause him to become a loser despite becoming a champion in his field.
When self-serving motives are behind the success achieved, one has to question whether true success has actually been achieved in the end?</p>
