Can anyone rise to their full potential? Many of us would think not. And they have compelling evidence. Some of us are born into a poverty-stricken or abusive home; others have to deal with a poor-quality education and are less able to succeed in school. Many of us have health problems; others are born into countries in this world where one's right to choose their own destiny is not respected nor recognized. A lot of us accept this as justification to prove that some people just 'aren't lucky' or are disadvantaged. Such reasoning is false. Though many of us are disadvantaged in certain areas, each and every one of us can still rise to our full potential. In this essay, I hope to explain why this is so and reveal why this issue is more tied into our current issues and future well-being than we might think.In order to illustrate my point (and show how this is connected to present-day political topics), let's take a look at the issue revolving around the wealthy vs. the needy. Some of us believe that success requires wealth and affluence. For example, if someone is born into an impoverished family with abusive parents, one would expect that person's life to progress like this: they go to school, get bad grades, get bullied, bully others, don't go to college, don't get a job, and end up homeless, living in the forest and possibly asking for government assistance. Because of this, one would describe this person as 'unlucky'. Is this fair? Some historical figures that many of us consider heroes, in fact, came from a simple background.
Consider Abraham Lincoln, who was born out in a log cabin in Kentucky (which was the frontier at the time) into a simple, hard-working family. He was not rich or wealthy by any means. His actual education, in total, summed up to less than a year. Yet, he rose beyond his circumstances. Lincoln largely taught himself by reading from books. He worked hard around the home. And because of his initiative, he embarked on a life journey that took him out of the backwoods of Kentucky, into Illinois, and eventually, to the White House at a time when the country was on the verge of falling apart. Abraham Lincoln started as a farmer, but ultimately became a soldier (in the Black Hawk War, though he saw no actual fighting), a lawyer, a congressman, and finally, president of the United States. Abraham Lincoln led the nation through its largest test of unity and sacrifice, and it was because of him that the Union remained united and the slaves were freed. There were countless others like him, people who were born in log cabins with very little. Many of these people stayed where they were at; some probably died in the same cabin in which they were born. Lincoln was different. He ended with much more than he started with, and it was largely because of his ingenuity that the United States remains a united nation today, where we can experience the same blessings of freedom, self-determination and potential opportunity that enabled him to become a great man and leader.
Who could have guessed that Ben Carson, born in a very "disadvantaged" background in which he did poorly in school and did not know how to read, would rise to become a great neurosurgeon and potential 2016 presidential candidate? Yet, it still happened. Ben Carson's mother, determined to give her children better opportunities in life, forced them to turn off the TV and learn to read. Soon, Ben Carson learned to love reading. He shot ahead in school, rising to become a great student. Today, he is a well-known neurosurgeon and has recently been a subject of great presidential speculation.
Besides Abraham Lincoln and Ben Carson, there are millions of Americans who started off with simple means and rose to become something more. This is the reality of the American Dream; anyone, no matter what background they came from, has the potential to succeed. True, not all of us start out with the best of conditions, but ultimately, those of us who work harder to succeed will receive a greater moral boost in self-confidence and determination. After all, if a farmer from Kentucky or a boy from Detroit can rise to become president of the United States or a record-breaking neurosurgeon, surely those same people can achieve anything else they set out to do in life. This system of belief is stronger when we work more diligently; thus, while some of us need to work harder than others to get to a higher spot, those of us who work harder will ultimately be able to do more and more.
These ideas form the basis of the American Dream. It is the reality of freedom and the right to the pursuit of happiness that has transformed the lives of millions of Americans in the past and here in the present. It is also the ingredient to the reaction that took America from being a handful of rebellious, rival colonies to the world's greatest economic, technological and military superpower. Furthermore, the nations of Europe, along with many nations throughout the world, have had the opportunity to accept the ideas of the American Dream along with the spread of freedom. This is how Japan and Germany rose from being tyranny-stricken, war-devastated and fallen empires to becoming economic giants within a matter of decades. Because of the embracement of the American Dream by many countries, billions of people now enjoy comforts and blessings that their great-grandparents never would have dreamt possible.
Sadly, the widespread belief among many of us that the disadvantaged "cannot succeed" and the worship of the concept of luck is what condemns many people to failure. These people believe that, because of their background, they cannot possibly become who they want to be. Because of this, they simply give up, lay back and expect some "better-off guy" to come take care of them. And some people who are affluent take advantage of this. They prey on the false beliefs and oftentimes self-imposed failures of these individuals by catering to their "needs". By doing so, the "unlucky" become dependent on these "lucky" people, who in reality are preventing them from succeeding. Thus, we have programs such as government welfare that don't make the disadvantaged any better-off or able to rise beyond their current state. This has an unfortunate effect that keeps many of us at home and abroad trapped where we start. In many cases, this is why "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer."
It is important for people to recognize that they have the ability to rise to their full potential. This is the same way that Abraham Lincoln, Ben Carson and countless others have become great leaders and inspirational examples. For all we know, there may be a Lincoln, or a Ben Carson, or a George Washington, Winston Churchill or Ronald Reagan among us somewhere. They could be rich or poor. They could be White, Hispanic, African-American, or Asian-American. They could have a disability. They could be Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Atheist. Yet, no matter what their background may be, their potential still exists, and the key to saving our future might rest in the hands of these individuals, just as it has with people in the past.
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