Marvin Eisenstadt's Common Connotations Of Success

Our culture, like so many others, is driven by the idea of and hope for success. The common connotations of success include the themes of monetary wealth and, especially in the realm of sports, winning or prevailing over an opponent--faceless or otherwise. This naturally raises the questions: what path best leads us to our success and how can we guarantee ourselves a step up on our opposition? From infancy, parents strive to provide everything they can to prepare their children for their futures. The purpose of the education in the first eighteen years of a typical american life is to gain the necessary knowledge to enter society as an adult. We go to college because we are told it best prepares us to get an enjoyable job that earns us more

Marvin Eisenstadt scoured the records of 699 eminent Americans and found that 45 percent had lost a parent before age 21 (Kaufman).” A startlingly high number of very successful people have drawn the benefits from difficult situations. This essential data proves the true causality in occurrence. Any correlation can be found in the diverse pool of people we consider successes, but the advantages of adversity go far beyond helping someone graduate college. The 699 eminent Americans Eisenstadt refers to are not some of the influential people of their time, but the most influential in their time. These are presidents, in fact “12 of the first forty-four U.S. presidents--beginning with George Washington and going all the way up to Barack Obama--lost their fathers while they were young (141-142).” This shows that these benefits possible through adversity give you that leg up that everyone so strives for: that leg up that distinguishes one of the best from the best. This concept challenges what we want to believe as humans trying to give the best we can for those we care about. To accept that providing more doesn’t always best prepare someone to succeed seems fundamentally wrong. How does a positive environment of care and support make someone less successful than if they didn’t have those things? Psychologist Dean Simonton provides an answer that satisfies both views: “gifted children and child prodigies seem most likely to emerge in highly supportive family conditions. In contrast, geniuses have a perverse tendency of growing up in more adverse conditions (142).” A youth may benefit from an exceptionally supportive family to the point that they excel at what they do, but not only do things we often consider disadvantages contribute to success they seperate the good from the