Does the Hard-working People Always Get the Best Results?
It was long believed that the hard-working people succeeded, and the people that deserved suffering suffered in the end. One famous fable that illustrates this point is "The Ant and the Grasshopper" by Aesop. This story is about a diligent ant and a grasshopper who doesn't work and plays all the time. The ant saved food during the warm month, while the grasshopper played, enjoying the warm weather. Then, winter came, The ant survived with the food he saved beforehand. However, the grasshopper, who didn't save anything for winter, doesn't make it through. Obviously, the moral of this story is that if you don't work hard when you can, you will suffer in the end. After a couple millennia, Maugham adapted the story and gave it a twist. In Maugham's version, Tom, who is like the grasshopper, becomes rich. The message of this story is that life is unfair; sometimes people who deserves suffering instead become successful. After I read Maugham's version of "The Ant and the Grasshopper," I couldn't help empathizing with it. Personally, I agree with the Maugham's message.
Life is unfair. Unlike Aesop's fables, life always has cruel twists in it. Maybe in the stories, a poor, hard-working person may earn a fortune after saving their money and a lazy, rich person may lose all their fortune after squandering their money. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the real world. Maybe in the past, when the polarization wasn't as bad, people might have been able to work hard and earn a fortune. However, with the cost of living, such as housing, food, and education skyrocketing every year, most people are finding it difficult to save money, as they have nothing left to save after spending their money on necessities. Conversely, the rich people keep on getting richer based on their riches; no matter how lazy they are. To illustrate this point, let me tell you a modernly adapted version of "The Ant and the Grasshopper." In this story, the Ant is a diligent salaried employee who saves regular amount of money. The Grasshopper is a lazy guy living in an apartment given to him by his parents. He always goes out to play in clubs, casinos without working. After 3 years, the Ant had saved 30 million won. The price of Grasshopper's house had gone up 300 million won. Now, the gap between them is even bigger. You can clearly see how unfair life is, that you can't succeed just by working hard.
In conclusion, I strongly agree with Maugham's opinion, that hard-working people don't always get the best results. Real life isn't like Aesop's fables. Instead, people who deserve suffering sometimes become more successful. This may seem unfair, but that's what life is.
Hi! This is Hyunseo. Your opening that summarized the fable with one sentence was really interesting. I think this will catch the attention of many readers. I especially like the composition of your essay. As it was well organized, it was easy to catch your opinions. Also your specific details helped me to understand and accept your ideas. So thank you for sharing your wonderful stories!!
ReplyDelete