Written by Ha Minh Ngoc,
A recipient of Sunflower Mission Sponsor-a-Student Scholarship

Vietnamese

Have you ever asked yourself what is this success that so many people spend their entire lives seeking? Is it the perfect outcome from a certain job that was done precisely in every single detail? Or is it just the ambition to be wealthy and famous? Think about it a little. Life will show you that there are some people who have achieved success in a surprisingly simple way.

Success is when father and son have the courage to get in the kitchen and cook for Mom on the eight of March. The soup might be a little salty, the tomato sauce should have been red instead of … turning black, but when she sees the dishes laid out before her, Mom smiles. Because even though her husband and child could not win in the “battle of cooking”, they have succeeded in giving her the rose of love - a gift that is more beautiful than any precious gem. Happiness glows in Mom’s eyes.

Success can come to the disabled boy who will never walk properly. He’s always wanted to be a football player since he was tiny. After relentless efforts, he eventually becomes a substitute in a small football team but never plays, not once. That is not a failure though. on the contrary, success has smiled at the boy who, through great will power and endless striving, has overcome his difficulties and fulfilled his childhood dream. How many people can achieve that sort of success?

After every college entrance examination, how many students are depressed about their results? Now 27/30 is a really high mark, yet what good is it when the student’s first choice requires a 27.5? But that is actually not a failure; it is a deferred success. Life still welcomes them with second or third options. The most important thing is that they have tried their best to position themselves. And that is the complete meaning of examinations, the nature of success.

When I was a child, I was told a very touching story. It was about a little poor boy who had been asked to write about his mother – the woman who was raising him. The boy wrote about a woman with gray hair and rough yet gentle and warm hands. He concluded that his grandmother was a mother – the woman that took care of him his whole life.

Technically the boy hadn’t written about his mother so he was told to rewrite the composition. But that was truly successful writing, expressing the great love of an orphan who was devoted to his grandmother. Is there any success or love more sacred than that?