<p>--Can success be disastrous---</p>
<pre><code> Do the ends justify the means? This is a moral question that one should always think of before making any choice. Morally, the answer is never. However, throughout history, people have made choices for the good of others. In doing so, they sacrified so ample amounts, that entire nations almost fell apart. The success is necessary sometimes, but the ends can be disastrous in the way that people get there.
In the American Civil War, President Abe Lincoln and Congress set out to do whatever it took to bring the seceding South back to the Union. Originally thining that the war would only last one battle, the North cheerfully went into the first battle of the war, the Battle of Bull Run. The North was humiliated in being defeated when they were expected to win. They realized that the war would last much longer than expected. After 4 years of fighting, the war finally ended. However, the casualties and repurcussions of the war were staggering. In one battle alone, more soldiers were killed than people killed in the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 combined! 8% of males from ages 15 to 42 died in the USA. The South completely lost its main source of income, cotton(the North burned the Southern fields). Even though slaves were freed, thousands of them died as well. Worst of all, the North had to pay for all of the South's damages! All the railroads, fields, buildings, and farms that the North destroyed were eventually rebuilt by the North. The main goal of the North was to bring the South back, but was it worth destroying the South, its economy, and its infrastructure, only to have to completely fix it by themselves? Bringing the South back was necessary, but the success(which was eventually seen with the prosperity of America in comtemporary times) was disastrous for one of the worst wars in America's history.
Wealth is not always a good quality. Money runs the world, and it both ruins and improves lives. This was seen in one case where a homeless person won a $300 million lottery. He thought that his life was all set for him, but little did he know money could ruin his life. Overtime, he gained a lot of weight, which caused him to have heart problems. Then he decidied to give some of his money to his granddaugter; however, that also did not turn out so well. The granddaughter's friends saw how much money she was getting, and got her into drugs so that she could buy them drugs as well. Then she got her boyfriend into drugs, and eventually they both died from overdoasages. Back to the lottery winner, he had many of his friends asking him for money; this is exactly what he wouldn't want. People are only liking him for his money, and they are only after his money. His health got even me worse, and his life was in ruin. When he brought his story to the news, he stressed that money will not always bring happiness. He warned those who win future lotteries that they need to be careful with how they handle their lives with this sudden gain. In the end, his success of being ranked highly in society was eventually his downfall.
When people are so motivated for their goals, they will go through whatever it takes to achieve those goals. Success will always come at a cost, and if people can't feel vicariously what the losses feel like(like the Civil War since the president wasn't fighting), then it will be disastrous; however, if that person can understand the cost of the sucess and do things appropriately, then success can be attained at minimal cost. Succes must be handle in teh right way for it to be used to its full advantage. With all of this in mind, it can be said that while sometimes the ends do justify the means to certain goals, our history and future fully depend on it.
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