Note: This is a #TBT — We are going back to 1996 when I wrote an essay for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. I won 2nd place ($1000 scholarship) and the topic was “Vision for America“. When I recently stumbled upon my essay, I sat in reflection staring out the window. I chuckled at the date I placed in the top right hand corner (check it out below) #clever . I remembered the girl who was dreamed of escaping the shackles of living at home and the hope she had when she wrote the essay. Today, my vision still holds true and I want to share it with you.
My Vision for America
“There once was a crow, half dead with thirst, that came upon a glass which had once been full of water; but when the crow put its beak into the mouth of the glass, he found that only very little water was left in it, and that he could not reach far enough to get it. He tried and he tried, but, at last, had to give up in despair. Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it into the glass. Pebble after pebble, he dropped into that glass. Finally, the water was near him and he was able to quench his thirst and save his life.” The theme of the anecdote was that the crow had given up physically but not mentally. The crow was determined to get to that water and he knew he could not give up. Finally, after he was able to reach the water, he knew that he had succeeded. If the crow had thought of this idea but felt he was too stupid or too dumb to make anything work, then he would have died of thirst. He had enough confidence in himself and enough determination to succeed, and that he did. As Americans, we must remember that America is the land of unlimited possibilities and with our expectations set high, we are sure to achieve anything we want. My vision for America is for the people to have the ability to achieve their goals by having enough confidence and determination to reach them and to be proud of themselves whether they succeed or not. What is vision? Vision may be something in a dream or an object of imagination but I see vision as an art of seeing. There are four kinds of people in America, those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, those who wonder what happened, and those who don’t know anything that happened. By having confidence and determination, there will only be one kind of person in America: those who make things happen. Every American will follow his own direction and be the architect of his own fortune. The minds of the people will create themselves, springing up under every disadvantage and making their way through every obstacle. Most people will live and die with their music still unplayed. They never attempted to try. Why? Because they lack confidence. Confidence is as far from conceit as the desire to earn a decent living is remote from greed. The people of America will have the confidence in oneself and in one’s abilities. In an interview, Albert Einstein is reported to have advised young people to follow this bit of wisdom, “Do not try to be a person of success, but try to be a person of value. The successful person takes more out of life that they put in it; while the person of value gives more to life than they take out of it.” The people of America will work with ability and determination as if it were the last day of their life and they will initiate self-improvement as if they were going to live a hundred years. There is one quality more important that “know how” and we cannot accuse the people of any undue amount of it. This is “know what” by which we determine not only how to accomplish our purposes, but what out purposes are to be. People today do not go out and achieve their goals because they fear failure. There is a saying that states: “Those who fail never attempted to try. If you do not at least try, then you have failed.” Competition can have a strong affect on how you reach your goals. You learn that it becomes most powerful when you compete with yourself and when you learn from your failures. The people of my generation will help make this vision a reality by having the confidence and determination to achieve their goals. They will go after what they want and if they fall short, they will try again or go after something better. Whatever goals the people of my generation attempt, they will succeed whether they fail or not. Simply because they have made an effort to reach their goal rather than not trying at all. I leave you with this last statement: Be what you are. This is the first step toward becoming better than you are.
From my fingertips to your eyes