Seeking a Goal

Determination is defined as “the process of establishing something exactly, typically by calculation or research” (“Determination”).

But determination means much more than that. Determination is one’s effort in striving towards a goal that will come with many challenges. When most people feel that a goal or idea that they deem is beyond their reach or understanding, they quit or procrastinate. Determination is that idea that separates those who think they can’t, and those who know they can. It’s the level of intensity that powers people through challenges and obstacles.

Those with determination face many challenges in order to achieve an honorable and desirable goal. On a personal level, I have set an incisive goal in my life that has and will consume much time and work in order to achieve it. The goal is to attain the rank of Eagle Scout in the program Boy Scouts of America. I set this goal so I could challenge myself and set measures of determination that I know I can achieve. The past seven years of my life, I have been working with tireless efforts to inch closer to the goal I set when I was ten years old. I knew that Boy Scouts is not a popular thing among most people, but I haven’t or won’t let that hold me back.

The fact that I am among the few who take this tireless but rewarding path just set in stone a level of determination within myself that has continuously fueled the fire for me to reach the rank of Eagle Scout. From a literary standpoint, in from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass demonstrates self-determination as a slave and was willing to go against all of society’s norms in order to achieve the goal he set for himself, which was freedom. “The battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood.

It recalled the departed self-confidence, and inspired me again with a determination to be free” (Douglass 547). The heresy and determination set by the narrator shows the passion and confidence he had in order to achieve the goal that no other person thought was even possible. In such a horrible time like this in history, it shows the amazing steps that Frederick Douglass took in order to achieve his own personal satiation, and it truly showed he was a paragon of his time. The factor that separates people in all aspects boils down to how much we are willing to sacrifice and give up for a goal that pleases us. Determination is that idea that keeps us going when our heads are down, when we feel that the task is out of reach, or that goes against all of society’s norms. If reaching our highest possible goals were easy, everybody would do it.

When a goal is set, it will undoubtedly take obstacles and a strong heart to come through and meet the goal and to prove that it was efficacious. Works Cited “Determination.” The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d. Web.

02 June 2015. Douglass, Frederick. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Evanston Illinois, McDougal Littell, 2008. Print.