<p>Prompt:
*
The old saying, “be careful what you wish for,” may be an appropriate warning. The drive to achieve a particular goal can dangerously narrow one’s perspective and encourage the fantasy that success in one endeavor will solve all of life’s difficulties. In fact, success can sometimes have unexpected consequences. Those who propel themselves toward the achievement of one goal often find that their lives are worse once “success” is achieved than they were before.*</p>
<p>Essay:</p>
<pre><code> The saying, “be careful what you wish for,” certainly is a practical warning. Most people have a goal that they want to reach some time in their life, but some have goals that they passionately strive to achieve. Those who fill their minds completely up with their intentions, fail to foresee possible consequences ahead. Therefore, they are narrow-minded and often fantasies build up in their heads, giving them unreal notions of ability and power to reach their goal. This, of course leads to disaster, even if the goal is, in essence, reached. Macbeth and Barry Bonds are two examples of people who ultimately reached their narrow-minded goal, but because of the way in which they reached it, their lives were ruined in disastrous consequences.
Macbeth, in Shakespeare’s Macbeth demonstrates a man with a burning ambition, who succeeds in obtaining his goal, and then realizes that he has gained nothing but disaster and misery in the end. Macbeth desires most to be king of Scotland, and he sets about doing what it takes to reach his goal. Macbeth, narrow-minded by his desire, must first murder the rightful king of Scotland, Duncan. He is driven by such an intense desire for power that he finds himself wrecking havoc on both Scotland and England. A killing machine, he murders whoever he feels threatened by, even his best friends and their families, so that he can become an absolute ruler, without constant fear for his own wellbeing. Macbeth’s goal was to become king, but he was not capable of thinking in advance. When he eventually reached his goal to become King of Scotland, two nations hated him. Even his own army turned against him, and destroyed all that he had worked for. In attempting to bring himself up, Macbeth instead died with not even one friend, a despicable murderer, remembered as a tyrant.
Barry Bonds also had a goal. He wanted most to become the best baseball player. Though he had incredible talent, and became a record breaker as soon as he left collage, he was not happy enough with himself. He needed to become the best. With this one goal in mind, Barry Bonds succumbed to all things that would make him a better player. At first he was honest, training his body to be a stronger, faster, more agile figure. But when he was not satisfied, he began to take illegal steroids that beefed him up and caused him to break already incredible records. He had reached his goal in mind. Up until a few years ago, Barry Bonds was one of the most famous, most loved and highest paid baseball players of all time. But then he was discovered. Alleged to have been taking previously banned drugs, and illegal steroids that would improve his performance, giving him an unfair advantage over other players, Barry Bonds went from most loved to most hated in a matter of days.
Some people, like Macbeth and Barry Bonds would sacrifice their soul for their goal. These people are so filled with themselves that they simply cannot think ahead at possible consequences, (or even inevitable consequences in Bonds’ case). Goals are good things, but when one’s goal comes before the general moral and standards of the culture and interferes with rational thinking, whatever success one gains, will come at a high cost.
</code></pre>