TOEFL® essay: Only people who earn a lot of money are successful?

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Nowadays as competitions are getting more and more fierce, people are concerning about the problem of money more than ever before. I can’t deny the fact that money is something we depend on to raise family and get advanced education or so, but I also want to say that money is not everything. I totally disagree with the idea that only people who earn a lot of money are successful as some strongly hold, for success is not something you can measure simply by economic achievement.

I believe that people who don’t have enough money can also be successful, even though their accomplishment are not shown with their payment. Sometimes it is because their significance in society are not learned and understood by people for the very moment, but before long they might be a forever hero in people’s hearts. Take the world-famous painter Vencent Van Gogh for example. In his whole life, never did he have a slight chance to experience being a rich person, not even once. People at that time even teased him for his weird behavior and they never paid real attention to his works. But what happened? He died for mental illness and poverty and soon after that, his works began to be appreciated by people. For people like Van Gogh, their talent is the key to their success, not money.

Another reason for people doing a good deed without receiving a great deal of money, in my perspective, is that what they’ve done cannot be measured by the common way of money, and by that I especially refer to one who offers people charity and kindness. Mother Terasa is just one of these. She’s been doing so much for the poor during the past several decades,but till now, she still keeps a very frugal life and people who catch the first glimpse at her often say she looks just like one of those she helps. In this case, we can definitely say that she’s successful in fulfilling her personal ideal and that her success cannot be decided by money.

Despite all of these above, what I also want to mention is that people who get a lot of money are not exactly the ones successful. As more people are chasing fame and power, some may get into a wrong way and even do thins against their conscience. Those who try every possible way to get money may succeed, but hardly anyone can say they are successful.

In all, I want to say that money is not the only way to measure a person’s success or failure, yet we should see this in a more objective way, for people with little money can be well accomplished, while those who earn a lot can also be a looser.

TOEFL listening lectures: A university arts lecture on Greek drama