What is success?

                                                        

Success is an old topic, however, each person’s understanding of success is different. Success is relative, everyone has his own criteria for success. Some people think that success is money, houses and cars. Some people think that success is something you want to do and do well. Some even deny the existence of success, he believes that there is no success in the world, only endless pursuit.
   Success is a kind of feeling that is a positive, confident feeling and a sense of satisfaction after achieving the goal. Anyway, different people have different definitions of success. I think success is a combination of things---health, happiness, material prosperity, love of family and friends, wisdom, influence and fulfillment. The only way to reach a successful one, first, people need to learn how to pay for something that ordinary people cannot do.  I am a women, so I think my success is to “be myself” ---I can do my own thing what I want, I can do the thing that make people happy ; my husband love me and the family, and I also can help my husband to achieve his dream ; I can let family be harmony and happiness, without family disputes. My children can get a good education and play their strengths; at night, I can have a drink what I like and I can enjoy the night and see passers-by quietly . I personally agree that success is “knowledge + passion + confidence + hard-work.”

   Many people ask me why you are still in college and how you can focus on your education. I want to say if you have these in mind and act it, success is waiting for you.

1. Believe the power of Knowledge.  “It’s never too late to learn”. Knowledge plays an important role in someone’s success. To achieve a goal; someone should keep learning different new things. We have great chances to learn and learn in American. Many of my friends and my relatives are so confusing why I quit my former job which is many people want and come to American and start a new one. I told them that I want to get more chances to fulfill myself and more chances for my son’s future because the United States has the world’s top teaching resources. That is, if you can study in American, you have more opportunities to find the true yourself. Now I was studying at Chabot College, I am learning something new, I am adapting to a new culture, I am so happy I can study here. And I know getting education is the first step to my success because I can learn much more knowledge and I believe the power of the knowledge, I will not be left behind by the society.

2. Make your goal. I realize that no matter what you think and what you do or the way you communicate to others can make people see opportunities, and these opportunities can lead to a close to your goal. I have heard many stories about successful people, goals had been in their mind for many years before they achieved their goal, they know what they need, they also know how to do it, and however, they need the time and hard-work to achieve their goal. This is not my personal theory, this has been proved in Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich, this book deals with how to get rich and how the philosophy can be used to help people succeed in all lines of work and to do or be almost anything they want. Anyone who want to be a successful person, he or she has to set a goal and work hard. “It is important in life not to be strong, but to feel strong and to measure yourself at least once. If you want something in life, reach out and grab it.” I think this quote represents Christopher McCandless had a strong feeling in finding himself; he has already made decision to achieve his goal of life no matter what will happen. He is kind of dedication and admirable. My goal in Chabot is getting my first AS degree in America, with help of the great and intelligence professors, I almost get it. 

3. Trust yourself.   Life always leaves us some huge, bad setback; therefore, it is very easy for us to give up our faith. We can give up faith on a lot of things, but never give up faith on ourselves; you need to believe yourself, because you can get everything you want. In the book Into the Wild Christopher McCandless wrote down “Don´t hesitate or allow yourself to make excuses. Just get out and do it. Just get out and do it. You will be very, very glad that you did.” (58) This quote shows Chris tried to encourage an old man to move out, eventually, he succeeded. Yes, he is right. Sometimes a person doesn't need to have too much hesitation to do what he or she loves, instead of trusting himself--- I can do it. If you have such a mindset, and success is just a matter of time, you will be very happy what you did. Actually, at the beginning at Chabot College, I was so scared and shy, I seldom talked to my colleagues because my limited English and culture differences, I ever wanted to withdraw, but after two quizzes, I found I have abilities to get good grade as native-Americans. Then I have confidence to continue my study and work hard, so I got good grade for each semester.

4. Try and never give up.    No cross, no crown. Most successful people have encountered a lot of the frustration and failure that you cannot imagine. Do you know the person who created Coca-Cola just wanted to give his company a name and he had failed 17 times? But the company now has billions in assets because he insisted believing himself and never gives up even after 17 times failure. Another example about the successful athletes, do you know the training stories behind them, if they give up because once failure, can they see the bright day? Of course not. “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”(57)I think this quote represents Chris’s attitude to the adventure of life, he might not know if he will have a successful life, but he will not be satisfied with each his adventure, he want to get more out of life, and he likes to try new things endlessly. That is, if you want to be successful, you must have the spirit of perseverance. You have to learn from each failure, you need to treat it as a successful experience rather than treat it as evidence of your incompetence. You may change the methods for your success, but never give up. No matter it will be successful, you should try, no try, no result. In the book Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer writes down “But [Everett] and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.”(96) Yes, I agree that. Although Chris McCandless is death, he tried. If he didn't have the passion to find new lifestyle or he never acts it out, he would not succeed in finding himself. He would not understand the real happiness in life is “Happiness only real when shared.”(189)

Success is also a process, and the road to success is not always smooth; to be successful, someone need to have a certain ability, wisdom, opportunity and time , all these can be the barriers to a success. Maybe, it’s not easy to grasp an opportunity, or it comes fast and go fast, so when the opportunity came, you should be ready. I think language is the greatest barrier to my success in America; of course, I also need opportunity to prove myself. I don’t know whether I can be successful in the future, but I will keep on learning and improving myself through my study or work. I will look for opportunity; I believe if I am ready I can grasp it.

"Into the Wild"

   Every one wants to live a picture perfect life, but what is the life everyone in the pursuit of?  Material or spiritual, freedom or constraint, escape or face, stick or change... , embracing the true meaning of life might be one of the hardest things for most people. For those people who don’t want to have any drama in their life, they will never be able to embrace the true meaning of life unless they push for the things they want in life. I admire someone who strives for their own ideal life and the true identity, but I don’t mean that I am in favor of the behavior of someone who pursue of his dream blindly, regardless of the expense of others. I think Into The Wild is a book which is worthy reading because this book praise the spirit rather than the behavior.

 Into The Wild is a book about a young man named Chris McCandless, who is from a well-to-do background in Washington D.C. Area, Chris McCandless always had privileges that few can claim. In April of 1992 he hitchhiked across the country to Alaska. He gave $25,000 of his savings to charity, left his car and nearly all of his possessions. He burned all the cash he had in his wallet, and created a new life. Four months later, his body was found in an abandoned bus. he did what many people wanted to do but never had the brave to do.  His means are to leave the material lifestyle and become at one with nature. McCandless’s passion for living by his principals, for simplicity and purity, is attractive and admirable.

      Maybe, because of the disappointment or hurt too deep, some people often use relentless, contemptuous tone to describe a so-called see-through thing, and then leave for freedom with the rebellious attitude, in disguise"Escape". But the things never disappear because of "escape". Although you stay away from modern civilization and its accompanying social evils, pressure, hypocrisy, you still need to live the nascent primitive life for surviving in deep Alaska wildness. "Modern" and "primitive", wherever you run, what you need to face is still to survive. From the book, our readers can learn that Chris had a bad relationship with his parents. Chris was privileged and wanted to get away from his privileged and dysfunctional family and an easy life where everything was handed to him. And the reader can also know both Chris and Walt McCandless are strong-willed and independence, Walt McCandless wanted to influence and parent Chris, but Chris craved independence, and Chris specially detested arbitrary authority, when he found his father was not perfect, he rebelled by leaving without saying goodbye. Chris’s sister received a letter from him saying that, “…I’m going to completely knock them out of my life. I’m going to divorce them as my parents once and for all and never speak to either of those idiots again as long as I live. I’ll be through with them once and for all, forever” (Krakauer 64). This quote shows that he was so mad at his parents, that he had once said his parents couldn't buy his respect. He didn't want to go through life having everything given to him from his parents. And then he cut off all communicating with his family and left for Alaska, actually he was escaping the reality and tried to look for the nature in Alaska wildness. But no matter how angry he is, he should not neglect the love from the family, he can’t punish the family in that way.The nature is also savage and cruel though it is beautiful. The nature deprive his life. In the end of his life, he recalled the hug with his parents happily and resumed his name at birth, all these proved that he couldn't still separate from the civilization society .Escaping is not the right way to follow one's passion. If he could realize what the true himself he was a little earlier, if he could learn to forgive, learn to love, it would not cause such great pain to the family who love him. To somewhat extent, McCandless was foolish and selfish.

I like this book, the book focus on the results from the investigation, I think everybody should read it,especially for those who just enter the society and feel unsatisfied by modern life and society or want to emulate the action like Chris. Chris McCandless finally found the true himself, he found what he needed  in his life, but no matter how strongly he wanted to go back to his parents, and he never came out of the Alaska bush. He is wisdom and well-education but eventually his “ignorance killed him”. It is a tragedy.

Jeff Duncan-Andrade - Growing Roses in concrete

Living one's life as half full is the first step to create a better society. If someone can stop dwelling on what they don't have and focus on what they do have, they can see that there are people in their lives that are willing to give them a better life. To do that someone have to be reminded of their dark history in order to see a brighter future.

Duncan-Andrade is an amazing speaker, his speech is an inspiration to many audience, but how can they see a brighter future? I think  these question should be considered:

1. what is the first step to create a society in which education is the main priority?
2.  How can society continue cultivating it's "growing roses in a garden"? 
3. Who is also affected as a result of the lack of education?

Passion , Education and Privilege

     

Underdogs: Friendship Collegiate Academy is a short video about a school of underprivileged high school students who work hard and play football. They may not have the best equipment or the best environment, but they have the passion to play football. Each of the players' story is filled with sorrow and despair, but their football team is their one bright spot that they can always count on to be their for them. They are all "roses in concrete." From their passion of football and their strong team bonds, they not only conquer the football field, they also prevail in the classroom. Their passion for the game and their hard work in the field was what made it possible for them to have a better future and education.

College Difficulties

• What issues do you face that make thriving in college difficult for you? What strategies do you have for dealing these issues?

I am an adult learner who return to school after 10 years working in  China, I face many difficulties in American, which is a new cultural country for me, I face many challenges from family, society, personal, etc. Here I am going to talk about two----culture difference and personal issue.

Culture Differences

Problem: The United States is often called a melting pot, mixing people from cultures all around the world. Still, American culture is distinctive, and it is different from my own in some area, we think or do something in different way. So, sometimes, I might misunderstand what the other says or understand it in other way.

Solution: Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Try your best to learn American culture and adjust yourself to adapt to the new culture and environment. English is my second language, I meant I am not good at speaking and listening in English. In class, to make sure I got the main points of what the teacher said, I would like to ask my classmate orally or in witting when it is needed. When I do homework at home, I might share the significance to my family or friends so they can understand what I am going through and got some support from them.

Personal Issues

 Problem:  With heightened levels of stress and lack of sleep, health problems can occur. I am an immigrant, I usually need to spend double time to do my homework because I don’t trust myself and I want to get good grade; in addition, I have to take care of my family, my son is young and so sticky to me. Most of time, I can’t have enough sleep , I might dream about my homework all whole night, therefore, I feel tired, sleepy ,headache or sick in the following day.

Solution:  I make schedule for my study and work.  I usually do my home when my son is at school or at late night after my son goes to sleep. And the next day, when I feel really tired or headache, I will take a nap, it works. Sometimes I might go walking in a park for relaxing or I might chat with friends for getting spiritual support and inspiration. I have an eternal heart, I always talk to myself: I can’t give up getting education.

Passion and Privilege

What is the relationship between passion and privilege? 

Passion is a strong feeling in doing something that someone 

loves to do and make him happy. I believe most people have 

the passion, but some people don’t purse it , when someone 

loves what he does, his or her passion for it comes through. 

Passion is a privilege- your opportunity, you should have tried to 

take a risk for pursuing your passion ,you should let your 

passion step forward, and you have this privilege and responsibility

 to do great things with it. I agree what Ray says in The Passion 

Project “In order to love life you have to find your passion; you 

have to find what truly makes you happy and when you find 

what truly makes you happy you gotta chase after it; you gotta 

take those risks.” You have the privilege to do what you love, to 

follow your passion.

   Passion may rule a person's heart, but there are barriers 

that keep someone from living their passion. Family and society

may keep someone from their passion, resulting in the loss

 of their privilege and option to do whatever they desire. 

With passion comes, privilege and responsibility. It may be what 

someone loves to do, but if it goes against society or family, 

then that person has to choose between his or her desire or their 

desire to fit in society.

The Passion Project

 The Passion Project  movie

The Passion Project from Sean McFarland on Vimeo.

How does this movie speak to you?

Passion is"a desire to do, or accomplish, or feel love without...without any barrier" " something that drives, that excites you, makes you feel good."

From the movie, I got the concept about "passion" again, passion

is something you love to do and make you happy; and I also 

realize why people need to have passions--- because even a 

little passion can lead to success if you maintain your passion

 and passion can provide you the power to see opportunities. 

Many successful people's stories have proved this theory. So, 

once you find your passion, you'll be more satisfied with your life.

Although life is meant to be  lived to the fullest, there are 

many obstacles that keep me from doing so.  Unlike the characters 

in the film, I still have yet to find my passion. I realize I am just a 

part of society, struggling to make a living.

In order to find my passion, I know I have to learn more about 

myself. It is not an easy  task, but I am willing to work hard to 

have the life I know I deserve. My family is my sole supporter

and everything I do for myself, I am also doing it for them.