This I Believe

Have you ever tried your best at something, but failed? I believe if you have tried your hardest you have succeeded no ma

tter what the world tells you. The success of people shouldn’t be counted b

y the standards of the world. Success should be measured by peoples own standards and how hard they try to accomplish their goals. This belief can be applied in many different situations, such as sports, school, and even in the workforce. The title of success should go to the ones who try hardest and make the effort to achieve.

During advisory, we were talking about how you know if you have succeeded or not. One student, two years my senior, said, “If you try your hardest, you have succeeded.” Most of the class had some objections. They were saying that if a student doesn’t reach a cer

tain standard, which in this instance was at least an “80,” the student has failed. I was thinking that if someone tries his hardest that’s the best he can do. Most of the time we can always improve on some things, so don’t focus on the grade you get but that you did your best.
Since I believe this, I try really hard not to judge people by what grade they make or how athletic they are. I try to judge people by how hard they try and what type of character they have. To me you don’t have to be the brightest bulb in the socket or the fastest man on the team. You just have to try your best and give it all you have.
I have been thinking of a system that could challenge everyone to do their best, and to not fail. That structure would be made of individual “levels”. This would accomplish stretching the curriculum for those for whom school is easy and that can do the work without much trouble. For those students who struggle in school, they can get help and have different goals for each day. This system would eliminate the apparent failures, or the ones who fall short even though they make their best attempt. The sad thing is that many people don’t try their h

ardest so the system would be flawed.

Though I have not struggled much in school, I know personally someone who makes a great effort to succeed in spite of difficulties. My brother tries harder than anybody I know, and because of that, he has great perseverance and good character. He sometimes thinks of himself as a failure because he cannot succeed even though he is putting it all on the line. Yet the act of not quitting is true success. I admire his courage to face another day when it is so hard for him. The definition of true success is not

 always how the world defines it. School grades, sport scores, salaries and other measurements are not the whole picture. A successful person has worked for goals and has become a better person because of his efforts.