Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Aspirations

Please react to the following questions in a fluent, concise, and thought-provoking response. Make sure you write with solid conventions and answer each question:

A few summers ago, I was at the Crytal Cathedral in Anaheim, California. A quote that always resonates in my head, hung on a giant cement wall asking, "What dreams would you dream if you knew you could not fail?"

What would you achieve if you knew you could not fail? What are your dreams, hopes, aspirations for life? What do you long for? How can those dreams be attained? What happens if you don't achieve them?

30 comments:

Katie H. said...

I would achieve all of my dreams. I would go after anything I could and try everything that I've always wanted to try. My dreams for my life are to go to college, have my own business, travel the world, get married, have kids, and to live in Auastralia for a while. Right now I long for independence away from my parents by getting my own apartment. I don't like being under their watchful eye, judging every move I make. Those dreams can be attained by me just going after them. It's going to take hard work and a lot of saving money, but they aren't impossible. If I don't achieve them then I will kind of feel like I've missed out on a part of life, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. Even if I don't achieve those dreams, I've probably achieved a lot more dreams that I didn't even know I had.

Elycia O. said...

I would achieve many things if I couldn't fail. I would save the world from what it’s become and what it will become. I would find a cure for cancer, I would make sure people would never get sick and everyone was happy. This world is my home but I can’t call it my home because I am disgusted with even living here.
My dreams are to help people. I love seeing people change others lives and I would love to do the same. I want to be that person who people can rely on. I want to be wise. Through sports and aspirations I want to learn the morals of life like determination, passion, focus, wisdom etc. I want to learn until I die, I want to know what love feels like, I want to experience all the feelings people get from different experiences. I want to live my life to the fullest.
I think that these dreams could be attained by hard work and determination to get it done. As long as you have faith and hope to do it, it will happen. Confidence is key. I would also have god standing by my side the entire time helping me through it. However if I don’t achieve my dreams all I can simply do is look back and say I tried my hardest. If my dreams don’t come true then god had a different path for me and I am accepting of that.

katie said...

If I knew I would not fail, I would try anything and everything. I don't really have dreams and aspirations for my life, I don't really like to think that far ahead and focus that much on the future, I tend to spend my time thinking about the present. If I had to pick something, I would like to live in another country, mayeb like New Zealand, and travel the world. I would just want to know that I made a positive impact on the people around me and I didn't live my life in a way that I wouldn't like. If I don't achieve my dreams, it would be disappointing, but I would try to find other things in life that I can go after. I think its better to accept things and move on rather than just focusing your whole life on it.

CodyK said...

If you knew you could not fail the possibilities of what you can achieve are endless. If I new I couldn’t fail I would probably open up my own restaurant in Hawaii or another tropical place. I have wanted to do that my entire life and living somewhere tropical where money is not an issue is my dream. I hope to accomplish a lot in my life and I aspire to help people. I want my life to mean something and want to do anything I can do to help others reach there goals. I long for a world where we don’t have to worry about the things we do today, a world where young men and women aren’t shipped of to war worrying about whether they’ll ever return or not. My dreams can be attained by just being as positive as I can and working my hardest to do all that I can to make a difference. If I don’t achieve my goals that’s ok but I’m going to do all I can to achieve them. Whatever I end up doing I’m going to do the best I can and give it everything I got.

Danielle S said...

If I could achieve anything without failing I think I would cure the world from evil. This world has become sickening and it disgusting how human beings have ruined everything. I think I would make everyone happy, help all the poor, all the sick and all the hungry and give a little hope and future because everyone deserves one. My dreams are to become something in the medical field so I can help people and I can be happy and make money that will support me and my family. I also want to stop working at an early age so I can travel, hang out with my kids/husband (if that happens…ha) and just live my life until I die of old age. I will work very hard and I know by doing that I can achieve whatever I want. If I don’t achieve them, it will be alright, and I’m not expecting anything but I am willing to work as hard as possible to get there. If I don’t then I know I can pick something else to work for, even if it’s not my first choice.

brynns said...

If knowing I could not fail, I would go after the "impossible". Lending a hand, for hurricane victims and the poor. I feel like helping out those people would make the world somewhat of a better place. I want to give kids in other countries, the same opportunities that I had as a child. Going to school, sporting events, expirencing a movie in the theater. The things that we just shrug off as nothing, to others make the world of difference. For myself I want to obtain my own interior design business, and hope that it does well. I want to use my skill to give people without homes, something thats liveable. I think that if I don't achieve these dreams the world would just stay the same. By changing the little things, our world could be so much more.

Tiffanyvvv said...

If could achieve anything and could not fail i would achieve everyones dreams all across the world. I would make sure everyone has hope, because in my opinion hope makes the world spin. The hope for a better life, hope for the poor, hope for peace, and hope in yourself. In my life i hope for a long life, so i can see the world. I dream for happiness and stabibilty. I hope make a difference in people's lives, whethers its helping people being a nurse or teaching my children some lessons. I will attain my dreams with hardwork and a big smile. :) If i dont achieve those dreams, God will give my another door to open.

Dani H said...

If I could not fail I we would living a utopia and there would never be struggles. So once something is achieved the feeling would not be as great for the path to get there was not as deserving. Though it would be absolutely amazing to cure cancer and help millions of people in the world. My ultimate dream is become a doctor not for the money but because my grandfather was. This would fulfill his steps and complete a dream, though do not want to b e lead by a career but by my family. I want to be proud of myself when I die, though I long for no war because I think we could solve our problems without fighting but by intelligence of our words. I think many people suffer from war and in our world of many pains; war just creates more tragedy and is not needed. Though one person could never change this by myself there would need to a unification of the world and with terrorist and communist countries this dream is almost impossible. Though if not achieved life would go on as it goes on. One ay I believe the world will understand but we learn and become smarter everyday, and will achieve peace!

Bri R said...

If I could not fail I don't think I would really achieve anything, not truly. I believe that through my failures, I learn how I can be successful in achieving my dreams. If no one could fail, it'd be like cheating your way through life. It's supposed to have stuggles and obsecules, and either we win or lose, but we move past it. There would be no challenge if there were no oppurtunities for failure, life would not be worth living. I have found that it is when a person is faced with the possibility of failure that one pushes oneself above one's known limits and tries. Trying would be erased from the verb list if no one could fail. "You never know what you can do until you try," that quote would mean nothing because everyone would be succeeding anyway, they would'nt need to try. Basically what I'm saying is, life is struggle, without stuggle there is no life. I would rather try my hardest and fail than not try at all and succeed. Never take the easy way out.

Bri R said...

If I could not fail I don't think I would really achieve anything, not truly. I believe that through my failures, I learn how I can be successful in achieving my dreams. If no one could fail, it'd be like cheating your way through life. It's supposed to have stuggles and obsecules, and either we win or lose, but we move past it. There would be no challenge if there were no oppurtunities for failure, life would not be worth living. I have found that it is when a person is faced with the possibility of failure that one pushes oneself above one's known limits and tries. Trying would be erased from the verb list if no one could fail. "You never know what you can do until you try," that quote would mean nothing because everyone would be succeeding anyway, they would'nt need to try. Basically what I'm saying is, life is struggle, without stuggle there is no life. I would rather try my hardest and fail than not try at all and succeed. Never take the easy way out.

Dylan L said...

If I knew I could not fail, and was smart enough, I would find a cure for cancer. I didn’t realize how many people are affected by this horrible disease until I saw my mom go through it. Finding a cure would save thousands of people’s lives, making people appreciate life a little more. I really don’t have too many dreams for my future; I really don’t think that far ahead. Right now my only aspiration is to go to college and get a degree, a degree of which I don’t know yet. I feel like I am too young to plan my life out, everything will fall into place. I feel like planning my life out only sets me up for disappointment. No ones life goes exactly how they plan or want, by letting everything fall into place I can relax and just be happy with what I have instead of dwell on the things I don’t.

Unknown said...

I would dream about things that I knew I could not accomplish. I do not believe that you can acheive every dream you have, even though you work extremely hard for it because sometimes you are put in situations where it just is not possible. I would dream about everything I wanted to do in life. Find true love, travel, be successful in business.

I feel that every single person is meant to do something because they are good at one single thing. I hope to acheive that and find something that I am very good at. I hope to be successful in the business world. I hope to make change and I think as long as i try I will not be dissapointed if I were to fail and not achieve those dreams.

ky k. said...

If I knew that I could not fail, I would set my goals and dreams higher in everything I did. I would have dreams of doing and being the best at whatever I was trying to pursue. I would dream to be the best basketball player that ever lived, to get the best grades in school, and to have amazing relationships with all of my family and friends. Not only for me, but as Elycia said, I would set dreams to make the world a better place and to help those that are less fortunate and less privileged. Since I know that certain things I wish and dream for are out of my reach, I try to keep them in perspective and dream for things that are realistic. This doesn’t mean that I set easy goals for myself to accomplish, but I just try to stay within my limits. I do set goals that I know will be really hard to accomplish, but if I set them a little too hard it will make me work harder. Some of the things I long for are to: get good grades in school, to play professional basketball somewhere even if it’s not in the NBA (but that would be even better), to constantly be growing in my relationships with my family, friends, and religiously, and to have a good influence on everyone I’m around on a day to day basis. For dreams of any kind hard work is what it takes to fulfill them, and if you really challenge yourself it takes lots of hard work, dedication, and perseverance. Although no one wants to fail you can learn a lot from it. As Michael Jordan once said, “I’ve failed over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” If you can learn from your mistakes then you’ll have a good chance on reaching your goals in the future.

Abby S said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Abby S said...

First off, everything. Although it would be great to never fail, to never fall and scramble to rise again, if we never fail, how will we know when we succeed? Failure, a destructive bomb ticking away to every forward step we take to achieving our dreams, has only a matter of time before it blows up. If we were to never fail, would we still have the same dreams? My dreams hold a large key in my life. A giant door stead fast in my way, with the key hole to high to reach, leaves me staggering at lengths unimaginable to even myself. But the strain and the anticipation keeps me reaching, reaching for the key hole ready to be unlocked. I long for happiness. No matter how this is achieved I will find a way. No matter how many failures I refuse to let them keep me flat footed. Instead I will keep reaching, straining, and pushing to create a life I imagine is worth while.

Unknown said...

If I could not fail at the things that I wanted to achieve, I would try many things. First, I would travel the whole world, making sure to visit all the countries. If I did this, I would learn many new customs, be more humble, and hopefully not be as ignorant to the things going on around me. Also, this would let me see the most beautiful places that have ever existed. After I did this I would climb most of the mountains in the world. Not all of them, just the most intense ones such as, Mt. Everest, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mt. McKinley, Crestone needles, and the Maroon bells. Before all of this, I would make sure that I got the best education that I could, so that I could have actual conversations with new people, and people I already know. Education is important to me because I know it leads to new opportunities, and things that I might not be used to, which would make me stronger, mentally. Once I have finished all of this, I would try to find someone to spend the rest of my life with. Love is probably the one thing I long for most, and it seems the farthest away. I would also find a job that I love to go to everyday, that is fun, and that challenges me, maybe something like a fashion designer. These dreams can be attained if I don’t let my life go down the drain. If I keep up my grades, and get into a good college, I can learn as much as I can. This would lead to a good job, which I hopefully will have found that I enjoy. After I have saved money, I could then climb mountains, and travel some. In all of this, by some chance I will have found a wonderful guy that loves me, and I love him back. If I don’t achieve these dreams, I won’t be super disappointed because I know most of them are pretty optimistic. But hopefully, with whatever I do, I will have a fantastic family that I can go to with no matter what.

Anonymous said...

If I could achieve anything and not fail, it would be to become a dancer or an artist. I used to dance and I was good but I was young, I wanted to try everything. I'm not the best painter or drawer, but I like making my own creations, there's some peace in it. My hope is to become something big in my mind, the whole world doesn't have to admire me for my talents (although that would be nice). No, life is much bigger when people are in their own world where they see themselves as a celebrity for going for their passions. My dreams can't really be attained now, but I would say a set mind, concentration, and ambition would accomplish these dreams. Most people don't have the drive anymore to go out explore possibilities or do their best. If we don't achieve our dreams, the thought will always be in the back of our minds; what if? What if everyone went to college and got to work at their dream job? Would we be a more laid back society instead of money, money, money? I would like to think that most people strive to acquire their hopes and dreams, maybe they are the more sane ones.

Morgan H said...

If I could achieve anyting, and not fail, I would try anything and everything. I would try something new every day of my life. I would go for things that most people think are impossible. I would go for things that mean something to me, like finding a cure for cancer, or a cure for aids, help people who are in genocides, and all of the starvation. My dreams are to win a National Championship, coach cheerleading, work for the Dallas Cowboys, be married and have 4 children, and live in Texas. My dreams can be attained by hard work and inspiration and God. If you don't achieve them, than you set new goals and you go for those, and you achieve them.

JaimeM said...

When you have that feeling of struggle and hardship in your life, and you battle throught that to find sucsess, thats what achievement is. I agree with Bri when she says "If I could not fail I don't think I would really achieve anything, not truly." Its the hardship that builds your charechter and leaves you feeling accomplished in the end. If it werent for the occasional failure, we would all walk through life accomplishing amazing things like cure cancer for example like dylan said. While that might be great for humanity, it says nothing about what we can overcome, and to me, thats what accomplishment means.

Anonymous said...

I have such a long bucket list it probably would go on forever; but I think that more than anything I would like to travel the world. I have always wanted to see what other cultures and societies have to offer, and I think that America has in a way become shut out from some of the amazing things that still go on in the world. I don't have much of a blueprint for the way I am going to live life. I think that my main goal is to be self-reliant. I don't want to be constricted by other peoples decision making. I think that one of the ways I can do these things is by receiving a good education and just finding a job that I can live with (and maybe enjoy). I kind of have to believe that I will achieve some if not most of my dreams, because otherwise I would run out of things to aspire to.

Meg P said...

If I could not fail, I would want to get a full ride scholarship to any college of my choice. I would want to become a record producer after college, or possibly a journalist. I know these dreams are not quite realistic for me, so in reality, I dream to still go to a good college, just maybe not my dream college. I still want to get a swimming scholarship, just maybe not a full ride scholarship. Because becoming a record producer is hard to succeed in, I hope to become something else that will make me happy. I haven't decided what area I will be happy in, though. Right now I think I would enjoy something with writing or with science. I want to be successful and happy. I want to have a family and good friends. In order to achieve these dreams though, I must work hard everyday, at school and in the pool. Even when I become overwhelmed, I have to keep going and get through it. I have to do well on my SAT. I have to work hard in college and realize college is not the end. But also, I have to have fun. Life is short, and we should live it to the fullest. For me, living life to the fullest is being successful and having fun. If I don't achieve my goals, I will be disappointed only if I know I didn't work my hardest. If I do everything I can to achieve them, and don't reach my goals, I will just continue to work hard to find something else that I enjoy. Like I said before, life is short, so don't waste it.

Allie S said...

If I knew I could not fail, I would begin my own physical therapy practice. It would succeed even with flexible hours so I could maintain a healthy family life. I would become fluent in Spanish to help me travel on medical missions trips to South America. I long for a family that i can teach. I long for one more state title before I go on to college. I can attain all of these things through hard work. Self-motivation and self-control. If I don't achieve these dreams I will find a way to feel self-worth and happiness through commraderie or different work.

Erik said...

I would feel over confident and maybe i would not think of stuff before I do them because I cannot fail. I would try to achieve all the dreams that have gone through my head and would go for every single opportunity that life would give me because I know that I would survive and be successful in everything I do. There would be no limit to my ambition probably. One of my biggest ambitions that I have is to become a professional table tennis player. I don't know if you know this but I train every day and it is what I would like to live of when I grow up. To fail is a part of life so life would also be different. I would be careless. It would be a very strange feeling.

Kris F. said...

If I could not fail, I would never stop moving. Everything in life would be a possibility and to say one or two things that I would do would be an understatement. If I knew i could not fail the world would be a better place. I would invent a car that runs on water and have everyone buy it. Our air would be so much cleaner and the beauty of Earth would last beyond its years. I guess i would achieve something everyone dreams of: immortality. Not immortality in a physical sense but immortality in name like Achilles or Zues. I would save Earths beauty and be remembered forever for a good deed. My hopes and dreams are not that I will have no enemies for enemies make us strive to be better, but I dream to find people along the path of life which are my world, in which I can confide anything in them. This dream is one that is obtainable, for if I find the people that are special to me, then all I have to do is grasp them and hold on to them and not let petty arguements and fights ruin a one of a kind relationship. If this is not achieved, then I guess I will have to stick out life and deal with it just as the rest of the world has to.

sschacher said...

If I knew I could not fail I would have an infinite amount of dreams. I would play pro beach volleyball and go to the Olympics, I would find a cure for three different types of diseases, I would end the war, and I would live on a house in the ocean under water. I would value every moment in life and take advantage of every chance I get. I also disagree that we can never truly be happy. You can never truly be happy if you don’t try and you don’t think you can. Some of my dreams can be attained. I know it will be very hard but with a lot of work and dedication anything can happen. If I don’t achieve them then I will make a new goal that I know will still challenge me but I have a chance of meeting.

Unknown said...

It depends, personally I believe that I can do any thing, I just haven't decided on what I will do.

I AM A FIGMENT OF MY OWN IMAGINATION.

If I did have a dream or vision that I believed in then I could pursue it, but as of now I don't have a goal to move towards or even to run away from.

TylerF said...

If I knew failure wasn’t a possibility I would attempt everything from curing cancer to kite surfing.
I dream that one day I will retire.
Just kidding, I dream of living somewhere with a coast with my camera attached my hand, and family attached to my hip. I hope for a strong relationship with God, my friends and my family. I pray that I can find careers through my passions, all of them. Those dreams can only be attained if I approach them knowing failure is inevitable, but nothing that can hold me back. As long as I pursue them with all my heart, somehow it will happen. If I am not successful through one of my passions, I will move to the next, but not let this hold me back like I said earlier. It is a lie to believe that I will succeed in everything I do, but it is a greater lie to believe I will fail in anything I try.

Vivian said...

I don't think I could even tell you all the things I would try if I knew I couldn't fail. The fear of failing holds me back from many things, and I understand that is in no way a good thing, but it's true. I'm scared to fail. I'm terrified of future, however I dream of going to college and getting a degree in psychology. Part of me recently has been thinking that it might be too hard, but that’s just the part of me that is scared to fail. I long to have my own family, and to have the most amazing marriage I could ever dream of. These dreams are all in my reach, I just need to buckle down with school before I go and do anything else. If I don't reach them completely, I will always have a plan B to fall back on...I'm just not quite sure what plan B is just yet.

ashleighm said...

If I could follow any dream and do it knowing that I could not fail at what I wanted to do, I would go after my dream of publishing my own novel, open a medical business in which I can help people who need it the most. One of the most important things in my life is helping people. One of my biggest dreams in life is to become a doctor. I want to be a pediatrician, publish my own novel, and live a life that other s can follow after and want to live after I am gone. I want to leave more than a financial inheritance if I ever have a family. I believe that I can attain these dreams by simply taking the route that is most suitable; I need to go to a good collage and get my medical degree and live my life accordingly.

Chase K. said...

If I could not fail,I would go after EVERYTHING. I mean if NO wasn't an option, anything is possible. I could end world hunger or maybe just win an award, but either way, I knew it would happen. In life, I want to do something that noone else has done before, something new. I also want to have a comfortable and successful life aswell. I long for my drems to come a reality, such as going to the NHL, of course some of them won't but I still hope. These dreams can be obtained through percervierance and hard work, and that is what I plan to do.