The Disease of Complacency by Jorge

The Disease of Complacency by Jorge - November 2018 Scholarship Essay

“Status quos are made to be broken”
Ray A. Davis

Meaning that the chains that hold down my generation from chasing their vocation are truly self-inflicted. Everyone is meant to make a difference in the world and no one should be complacent with doing something they do not love. Such thoughts remind me so much of those in my community that willingly gave up on their dreams and gave into the social system that oppressed them. Kids who used to have a burning passion for a sport, now stand in front of a mirror and decide they weren't built for it. Others who dreamed to be in office one day concluded they did not stand a chance due to the color of their skin. Artists obsessed with the emotions they display on a canvas convinced themselves that it was a waste of time. These tragedies of self-doubt and insecurity are seen everywhere and are limiting the potential prosperous future of these individuals. I spend a lot of time thinking about how I can help change this as my way of not just giving back to my community but to all of society.

The quote that is written above (my senior yearbook quote) is my general philosophy and perspective on life in 7 words. I truly believe that everyone is destined for greatness and my goal in life is to help as many people as possible to attain that greatness. I have a passion for not simply helping others, but helping others to help themselves. You can either give a starving man a fish to eat, or teach him how to fish so that he may never be hungry again; an oversimplified analogy of my thought process when helping others.

For example, I am an aspiring business owner, who as of now owns his own fitness company (All Things Fitness); training others in basketball and overall athletic performance. When training my clients, I normally end my workouts with simple drills they can recreate, for I give them the knowledge and tools to train themselves. One may think that's a bad business tactic, however, I do this so that once I teach that client how to train themselves, I can focus on another client, then when I teach that client, I move to yet another and so on. I do this because I want to get the message across to my clients that they do not need someone to walk with them in order to achieve their goals; a lack of guidance isn't a limitation to their potential. Yes, it's easier to improve in basketball when you have a trainer teaching you, however, the greatest NBA players never had a proper trainer until they went pro. They reached their levels of success because at a young age they became aware that they were destined for greatness, so they grasped their future and attacked their dreams head on. This is the mentality I believe all people are capable of.

For "Status quos are made to be broken", meaning that the chains that hold down my generation from chasing their vocation are truly self-inflicted, and I am going to help my generation rid themselves of those chains.