A Reason Bigger Than Yourself by Alan

A Reason Bigger Than Yourself by Alan - December 2018 Scholarship Essay

What does it truly mean to win? For some it means finishing first in a race or contest and for others it means getting a promotion over someone else. This was common growing up; I came to learn that it was all a competition. I have a younger brother, so whoever could run the fastest or got the highest marks in class would ultimately “win.” Gradually, I changed my viewpoint as I began studying the lives of the most revolutionary of history: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Confucius, Mother Teresa, etc. All of these people had one thing in common: they had a mindset of creating a win/win situation for everyone. It wasn’t enough for their group of people to triumph over others. They wanted their significant counterparts, commonly their rivals, to stand there with them and behold what revolutionary changes they could make together. This quality makes a leader; it’s not a matter of who can reach the finish line first, but a matter of getting there together.

That is why it’s essential for my recipient to have this crucial mindset of creating win/win situations. They would make real effort towards in not just satisfying a certain group of people while inadvertently hurting another, but towards seeking solutions that promote cooperation. Contrary to popular belief, life is not a zero sum game, where each participant’s gain is balanced with the loss or gain of the other participants. The problem with this mindset is that the participant can become blinded from temporary gain, and therefore lose sight of long-term rewards that can only come from cooperation. I would be confident, that if my chosen recipient already had this one quality, they have escaped the “me or you” mentality and decided to uphold themselves to the absolute highest standard.

Take for example, a successful company that has reached millions of customers each month. The company inspects that it can significantly make more profit if they replace the materials of their most popular product with subpar materials instead. For a few months, business is booming due to higher profit caused by lower manufacturing costs. But something changes. People start to realize that the product is much inferior to the older one, so consequently they file complaints and stop buying the product. In the end, the business becomes worse off than before they made the replacement and now has to work hard to regain customer’s trust. What had happened is that they turned a win/win into a win/lose and eventually a lose/lose situation. Fundamentally, this costly mistake could all have been avoided if they had the quality that I chose for my recipient: a mindset of establishing a win/win situation.

Additionally, my chosen recipient would have the quality of always asking themselves, one of the most powerful questions in the world: Why? In reality, it is not the what or how that truly matters, but the why. The expansion of our sciences, the success of a company, and the motivation that re-sparks a declining revolution all adhere to this one question. Just by having a purpose, people will go at great lengths to see that it is done. If my recipient has dedicated himself or herself to a higher purpose as to why they are pursuing their goals, he or she will be intrinsically passionate and relentless to procuring actual changes. People that understand this principle have a great advantage over their peers as they can also effortlessly inspire others to follow in their footsteps and help them in their goals.

It is a common misconception that James D. Watson and Francis Crick found the Double Helix DNA Structure; in truth it was based of the work of one of their peers at King’s College—Rosalind Franklin. Her research implied that that there was a Double Helix Structure before any of her peers; she would share her findings to influence her peers. If it wasn’t for her ability to motivate others that her work was vital, then the Double Helix DNA Structure wouldn’t have been found. Despite that Watson and Crick were credited with the findings, as previously aforementioned, it doesn’t matter how the research got into the scientific world since it significantly expanded our comprehension of biological composition, and therefore the purpose of the research was achieved. If a situation like this ever arose, then my chosen recipient would easily come to terms with it, due to his understanding that a more substantial purpose was at play.

These two overarching qualities represent the ideal chosen recipient for the Nobel Peace Price Award as it shifts the focus of my recipient to other people. Albeit, thinking this way, may at times cause more energy or time to be expended, if in the end, it helps more people, then it’s worth it. In my eyes, genuinely trying to make the world a better place, even by a little, is one of the highest value that any person can aspire to. It truly takes a mature person to realize that their work is bigger than any newfound riches, fame, power, or award.