Oxford & Cambridge Essay Writing Competition's winning essays- Champion

Ian Tan Wei Chuen (SMK USJ12)

“Push! Push!” the doctor clad in immaculate white attire urges as the woman giving birth lets out blood-curdling screams throughout the room. She suffers while the doctor toils for hours on end in a seemingly endless battle. Then, a miracle happens. A head peeks out and a baby emerges. A new person, a new life and a new soul is born. Tears of joy stream down the cheeks of the people in the room as they rejoice in their victory of a lengthy battle for a new human life. Fast-forward by twenty years when the child is now undergoing further education. A rite of passage into the adult world, you might say. As the thorns of adolescence remain in his or her character, he or she retains some form of innocence. However as wars rage around the world, as economic crises ravage the livelihood of a half of the human population and as the youth panders over a greater purpose in life besides power and money, the youth is left to think, “What am I living for ?” Material gains may bring all the thrill and luxuries in the world, but to what effect? Have you ever thought of what you would buy if you have everything? You do get to impress people, of course but will they love you? Power may grant you control, but it does not always garner appreciation. As the string of mistakes made by us in our lives lengthens and we come to closer terms with the issue of death, sometimes we have to realise that all that we have is our soul.

We have always heard of people and their perspectives on life and some of us are left to wonder, “How do these people think like that?” I have been on the receiving end of that thought at times and there is one thing which all optimistic and happy people in the world possess. They realise that money and power are not always everything in this pessimistic, demanding world. You are. We only have ourselves in at least some senses of the phrase and our happiness and success really depends on us, ourselves, our souls. Our soul may often be associated with spirituality but let us look from a more practical angle and associate it with intentions instead. Thus, the soul can be defined as a person’s life force and intentions. If our intentions are pure and uncontaminated, we will undoubtedly be happy and there is proof of it. Have you ever felt what it is like to give to society? It feels good, does it not? It gives you a rush of euphoria unlike taking, which oftentimes leaves you guilty and what not. Just to give you a clearer picture, let us delve further into his intriguing concept.

Take warren Buffett as an example. While he may be a taker of society in some ways, he is a giver in many other ways, obviously, he is known as possibly the greatest investor of all time but he does it through skill and foresight unlike speculators who merely try their luck at the stock exchanges. He has all the money in the world, yet almost all of it is stuck in the stock markets. He still lives in the same humble townhouse in Omaha, Nebraska as he did forty years ago, he drivers his own cheap, generic Lincoln Town Car around on his own as everybody else does and the most expensive thing he has is probably his house and suit, physically speaking. He does not utilise that money for his own material gains, but for something bigger, investing. He has always gone against the advice of economists and come out victorious. He has pledged half of his forty billion dollar fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a philanthropic organisation and has restructured Berkshire Hathaway, his company to ease the task for his successors. So, he is really fiving rather than taking. He wants to ensure the bright future of his peers, his people and organisations the lives of the poor and he will have a clean slate of life. He is one with a pure soul and he has only relied on himself and his soul to succeed. To this day, he still relies on himself and remains in his humble lifestyle, still holding on to that which he is passionate about.

Besides that, the soul can be related to happiness and how the soul perceives it. One famous use of that perception is to do what you love. There is no use doing something you do not love yet gain from it. Life will probably become very depressing indeed. Take for example, Lance Armstrong. He is now the best cyclist in the world by far, surpassing all others by inconceivably large margins. How? He does not have any augmented abilities he has the will and passion to succeed in the sport he loves the most. The most surprising fact is that he was struck down by cancer in the past. When everything around him collapsed and life went into a downward spiral, he was subjected to more threatening ordeals such as chemotherapy and sometimes, depression. Despite that, he retained his love for cycling and soul was burning with desire to touch those handlebars and pedals again. He did and after a year, he had being cured of cancer, he won and he has never stopped since. He is now an ambassador for cancer victims and he urges them to fight for their lives and what they love in hopes that they will he as lucky as him. Lance Armstrong achieved victory against cancer and against modern perceptions of death as well as cycling records previously thought as impossible by himself. All this was done through his fiery soul, a very strong, self-sufficient one indeed, He had achieved unimaginable success with it.

But what of us? Shall we not be successful as well? That really depends on our perspectives in life and the soul. If the soul works toward that constant improvement of our humane being and for the better of others, then yes, I would consider that successful, do you not? For instance, educators who choose to raise the capabilities of their students for a bright future ahead, academia who research fields of knowledge so that we know all that is around us and ourselves better and happiness of each other. So, as you can see , all we have and all we need are souls because while we may be down in the dumps or doubtful about life, we sometimes do not realise that the soul exists for a larger, more noble purpose. We just have to notice it and embrace our souls to truly achieve success in every sense of the word.

So do go back and look into your soul today. You may find something valuable in there which may just be your key to your own personal success.