Carpe Diem by Charles

Carpe Diem by Charles - December 2018 Scholarship Essay

As though these qualities are extraordinary, we assign them to prizes and awards as we continuously strive to find people who so profoundly exemplify our ideals and values. In reality, however, the characteristics that make people great are found in everyone. The real challenge, for which we award our Nobel Prizes, is discovering purpose and direction in a world where our opportunities for the extraordinary are found every day in the smallest of actions. For this reason, I believe that two qualities necessary for anyone to be considered eligible to win a Nobel prize are focus and initiative.
We can all recognize that regular people can do great things. Every day, people find new and exciting ways to do good things for others. What, then, qualifies people for awards like the Nobel Prize? If everyone has qualities that could enable them to be considered great people, then how do we differentiate between those who are eligible and those who are not? One simple and concrete way to choose from among this large selection pool is to reference consistency. People who are able to consistently able to produce beneficial results seem to have a quality that is increasingly difficult to come by in our informational society: focus.
It is hard to focus. Especially in a day and age when so much communication and information is available at the mere glance of a screen, our attention is constantly being diverted from one thing to the next. We are inundated with gigabytes of data every minute, and it can become difficult to concentrate on the values and opportunities that allow us to make a difference. Furthermore, to focus takes discipline and self-awareness, and people that are able to confront the entirety of the world every day with an idea of what they want to do with it are special and, in my eyes, deserve a Nobel Prize.
The second quality that requires some attention is initiative. In other words, initiative is the ability to do as Mr. Keating so boldly proposes in the film Dead Poets Society, “Carpe diem!” Seize the day! Those that are able to couple their focus with a sense of urgency or purpose surely deserve a Nobel Prize for a couple of reasons, the first of which being that we value our time to the umpteenth degree. Our time, our precious time, is so guarded and protected that, often, we convince ourselves not to engage in a project or activity. The second reason initiative should be a vaulted quality is that, generally, people become comfortable with their lives. In order to do something great that requires focus and initiative, we would have to step out of our comfort zones, which is something that very few of us do if we can help it. It is because of this that I think initiative should be a valued quality in someone that would be eligible to win a Nobel Prize.
In conclusion, focus and initiative are two characteristics that are difficult to find in sustained concentrations. To win a Nobel Prize is to do something extraordinary, and though ordinary people possess attributes that would allow us to do wonderful things, those that stand out by going above and beyond are those whose focus and initiative are extremely difficult to match.