Conceptions of Success

1. The favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.
2. The attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.
3. A successful performance or achievement: The play was an instant success.
4. A person or thing that is successful: She was a great success on the talk show.

defines "success" as stated in dictionary.com.

However, to me, "success" means "the achievement of one's goal or aim". Think about it. When people fulfill their own goals, they say that their lives are successful. Therefore, there are many successful people in the world. The only difference between them and people like Bill Gates is that they are not famous. Because no one has ever heard of them, people tend to deem them as "unsuccessful". I beg to differ.

Anyways, I shall write about one famous person who is successful. Anyone who studies music, especially violinists, will recognise the ever familiar name - Antonio Vivaldi. He was born in Venice on March 4th, 1678. He was not born healthy like most of us. In fact, he was born with what he called "tightness of the chest", which I suspect is actually what we deem "asthmatic bronchitis" in medical terms. He became a priest in 1703, but against his own will, perhaps because in his day training for the priesthood was often the only possible way for a poor family to obtain free schooling.

He was pardoned from celebrating the Holy Mass because of his ill health, and later, he became a violin teacher for girls in the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. In 1705, the first collection of his works was published. He composed over 500 concertos, 46 Operas, sinfonias, 73 sonatas, chamber music, and sacred music, though of course, his famous work is "Four Seasons".

In 1713, Vivaldi was given a month's leave from the Ospedale della Pietà in order to stage his first opera, Ottone in villa, in Vicenza. In 1716, he was promoted to maestro di' concert also known as music director. He became acquainted with an aspiring young singer, Anna Tessieri Giro, during his visit to Mantua.

He died of an internal infection on the night between 27 and July 28, 1741, and was buried in a simple grave at the Hospital Burial Ground in Vienna on July 28. But, like Mozart, he received a modest burial 50 years later.

He is successful as he had a goal - to create a musical piece meant to be appreciated by the audience - and he had achieved it.

He has strongly inspired me to be a wonderful violinist, as he could do though he was not in the pink of health and had to struggle with poverty. I am healthy, and not struggling with poverty, thus, I should be able to do better than him.

Now, let us move on to a successful person whom I know personally.

I don't even know his name, but I do know that his surname is Tan.

I saw his certificate of birth before, and he was born on the 22nd May 1937. It was stated somewhere that he was a coolie.

An unskilled laborer employed cheaply, esp. one brought from Asia.

defines "coolie" as stated in dictionary.com.

As you can see, his family was not doing pretty well then. His wife had to wash the clothing of countless in order to make ends meet. Meals did not come on a regular basis - skin of a bread was considered quite a delicacy then. And to top if off, he had four children - one daughter and three sons.

Like many others, they lived in a kampong then. Finally, one day, when technology is more advanced and his children were all grown up and working, he got to live in a two-room flat, and then slowly, eventually, when he was really old and had grandchildren, a five-room flat.

Like all successful people, he had a goal. His goal, was to be able to live a peaceful and relaxing life. And he deserved it, after all the hardships he had been through, when he finally achieved it. Living through the World War II and raising his four children in such poverty is no easy matter. And yet, he managed to give his children an education up to secondary school.

Many people would think that anyone who worked as a coolie is not successful. However, though he is not the most successful person in the world, I feel that he is a very successful person. Could anyone have the perseverance and live through a life like this? And eventually, achieving his or her own goals? No.

His goal was achieved, and just in time.

He died in 2002, when I was merely 7.

And he is my grandfather.

He has so much perseverance, that it is really so amazing. He inspired me to persevere in whatever I do, in order to achieve my goals, just like he had. And besides, I am living in such wonderful conditions as compared to his. I really have no excuses.

In this programme, there is such strong competition. My competitive nature will kick in, and I know I will do the best I can against all odds, just to be on top. And my current goal, is to achieve straight As in the next exam, and be in the top ten in my level position. This programme will help, a lot.