<p>Prompt: Is it best for people to accept who they are and what they have, or should people always strive to better themselves?</p>
<p>No individual on Earth has ever acquired perfection, room for improvement is always there. Several incidences in literature and history exemplify the necessity in always striving for a better life and self improvements.
In Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Lennie and George live vagabond lives that are unsatisfactory in the least. They are poor ranch hands with no family, and back luck at keeping jobs. The only thing that keeps them going is hope for a better life, the dream of saving up enough money to buy their own farm. Without this goal to improve their lives, they would live in constant depression, with nothing to look forward to. Without the dream of a better life, they would have no motivation to go on.
Striving for betterment is also seen in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. John Proctor made mistakes in his life, one being cheating on his wife with Abigail Williams, who late become the town's head witch-accuser. John is accused of witchcraft and sentenced to hanging. At the end of the play, he is offered the chance to save his life by admitting that he his a witch. Though he has already lay ruin to some of his life, he chooses to defend his name and better himself by no falling into the town's trickery. His continuous stride to better himself, even while on death's row, is a much better alternative to being content with mediocre morals.
We can also see the desire to wanting a better life in the American Revolution. The Americans had pretty decent lives under British rule, they were taken care of and paid for their raw goods. But, they didn't want to settle for his when they knew they were being taken advantage of and deserved more. If colonial Americans hadn't demanded better lives, they wouldn't have gained the freedom and justice that we have today.
Settling for mediocre is never the best answer. As seen in Of Mice and Men, The Crucible, and the American Revolution, striving for better is the means of truly taking life for what it's worth.</p>