Life Lessons and Leadership From Courage and Optimisim by James

Life Lessons and Leadership From Courage and Optimisim by James - February 2015 Scholarship Essay

There have been many great books and many great authors to have graced the face of this Earth. There are so many great tales that have been told and even more that haven’t even been written. I read many books back in high school, some were very good and some were downright awful! But, the most important book I read before I graduated from high school (and a book that everyone should read before graduating high school too) is Shackleton’s Way by Stephanie Capparell and Margot Morrell. This book is a biography about the great Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton and his amazing tale of survival in the perils of Antarctica. He managed to save the lives of his entire crew while being entirely cutoff from the outside world.

Why should everyone read this book about an explorer who died so long ago and isn’t relevant like other figures in history? Because Shackleton, in my and many other professional people’s opinions, he was the greatest leader ever. Shackleton’s Way teaches people how to become better leaders and people in general. Learning how to become a better leader prepared me for all the leadership opportunities I was so very happy to have. I was well prepared for those opportunities and managed to make the clubs I was a leader of better because of it.

Shackleton’s Way also prepared me for life in general. I thought that my life would be easy, that I’d get everything I want and that I was unstoppable. I was dead wrong. Life obviously isn’t easy, if I want anything I’m going to have to earn it and I can be stopped. Some of things life has thrown at me have been quite difficult obstacles to get over. Without the leadership lessons from Shackleton’s Way and the life lessons this book teaches, I’m not sure if I’d still be alive after fighting through it all. Maybe I can be stopped for a little while, but through Shackleton’s motto; “By Endurance We Conquer,” I can do anything if I work hard enough and so can everyone else.

This book may not be famous. The brave men who gave of themselves to help everyone survive may have been forgotten. Antarctica may not be the “place of discovery” anymore. But, the message this book brings will always stand the test of time. That is why I believe that everyone should read this book before they graduate high school.