<p>Here is the prompt, </p>
<p>People are often advised to practice moderation in everything they do. The way to succeed in achieving their goals, they are told, is to remain balanced, controlled, and restrained. But this advice is misguided. Instead of being moderate, people should be passionate and intense. Throughout history, moderation has produced nothing extraordinary or exceptional. Excellence in any pursuit requires excess — great enthusiasm, high energy, and extreme effort.</p>
<p>Assignment:</p>
<p>Is moderation an obstacle to achievement and success? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.</p>
<p>MY ESSAY:</p>
<p>In today’s society, people are encouraged to practice moderation. This philosophy is nice, but when we want to accomplish something worth mentioning in history books, doing everything in moderation is not enough. We need to have energy, enthusiasm, and a strong will. History has rarely seen a man of greatness be moderate in his dreams.
Take the “King of Pop”, Michael Jackson. Born into a poor family in a time when blacks were just beginning to taste freedom, he always had the enthusiasm and the drive to succeed at all costs. After having become well-known among black people by singing with his brothers in the Jackson 5, he decided to go solo and with the help of legendary producer Quincy Jones, made “Off the Wall”, which sold 20 million copies; a staggering number. He wrote one of the four char-topping singles, “Don’t Stop 'Till You Get Enough”, for which he won a Grammy. But to him, that wasn’t enough. He stated to his biographer that he wanted to become the wealthiest man in the music industry. With that ambition to succeed and to do something no on had ever done before, he and Quincy Jones made “Thriller”, which sold 100 million copies. The music videos that accompanied the album were ground-breaking, and the performance of “Billie Jean” on the 25th anniversary of Motown saw him debut the “moonwalk”, which would propel him into the spotlight.
My friend, however, is the opposite of Michael Jackson. Whereas Michael Jackson had talent and the drive to succeed, my friend, Harry possesses the talent, but his ambition is moderate. Having showed great talent in art, he was esteemed by everyone. his parents did whatever they could to nurture his talent. But sadly, his expectations for himself were low. When I asked him where he saw himself in 20 years, he said that he saw himself working as an art teacher. Even though I never told his parents of his dream, they soon found out that he possessed no drive to be recognized in the world, and stopped taking him to art lessons. Because of this lack of ambition, his talents wasted away and he is now a regular student.
Without the drive to succeed at all costs, a person with great talent cannot succeed.</p>
<p>Please grade out of 12. I filled the two pages with small and legible handwriting. If you are wondering why my conclusion is so short, I had no space to write a concluding paragraph. Please don’t criticize my conclusion; I saw a essay got a 6 even with one sentence as the conclusion.</p>