Mastering Fate by Nathaniel

Mastering Fate by Nathaniel - April 2016 Scholarship Essay

“I am the master of my fate:/I am the captain of my soul.” The last two lines of William Ernest Henley’s poem Invictus is the motto that I live by. Some of you might be more familiar with the movie Invictus with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, and I was too my freshman year of high school. At the end of my AP World History course with a couple more weeks of school left, we watched movies to occupy class time because we took the AP exam the week prior and nothing left to learn before finals. I had seen commercials on the TV, but I had never watched this retelling of a portion of the end apartheid in South Africa.
I won’t bother going over the movie, except for the portion where Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) recites the poem by Henley. It is a powerful and inspiring moment in the film and even without screen play dramatizing the poem, the poem itself is the essence of power and inspiration.
This poem has given me the power to accomplish. This poem has given me the inspiration to motivate others. This poem has given me the power to challenge. This poem has given me the inspiration to make my own goals in life. I often dream of becoming a professional track athlete. I am a slightly underweight, yet healthy 147lb, 6ft 1in, athlete with ileitis. It took years of hard work during periods of rapid body growth and development (which made things quite frustrating) and a couple of years to grow accustomed to my physically mature body, three different coaches, and team support to help me realize that my dream of being a professional track athlete was not really that farfetched. If anything, this is the point in my life where I must own up to being the master of my fate because this is the point where I have the opportunity to seize my full potential or let it go.
I say to younger students: no matter your dreams, you are the only who can obtain them. You won’t find your dreams unless you take ownership and responsibility as the captain of your soul and take the time to set about mastering your fate. It takes 10,000 hours to become a master at something. In the average year, there are 8,500+ hours. You have been a master at deciding your fate since your 2nd birthday. No matter how bloodied your head is, remember that you are the master and your head shall remain unbowed.