In any field of endeavor it is impossible to make a significant contribution without first being strongly influenced by past achievements within that field

When we plan to endeavor in any field, we first look up for the existing information regarding the field. Now days we mostly take the help of various search engines like Google, yahoo, etc. to get answers for anything and everything that comes to our mind. But to find the answer we need a question, and where do we get that question from? We get it from our surroundings.

For instance, let us assume a hypothetical situation, where I want to pursue robotics as my career. Let’s say, I got introduced to it at school level, it was a hobby for me then. But now at college level, when I got to know of the sublime works of various researchers who produced robots like Nao, I became more inquisitive regarding this field. It did not take me long to find out what my passion was, what I definitely wanted in life. It was nothing but robotics.

This was one example; there can be many to quote. But the crux remains the same; past achievements help us not only to take up endeavors but also to accomplish what we aim. We are taught about various eminent personalities and their accomplishments in school. As kids, most of us were taught about Mother Teresa, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, Graham Bell and many more achievers. Now just to ponder upon it, why were we at first place taught about these personalities? We could have easily studied the laws of science, politics, humanity, or whatsoever we had an inclination for.

No, this is not the way it works. Had we not been told of the great work of Mother Teresa, we might have never even thought that something so noble could also be done by a human being. Had we not been aware of the great Albert Einstein, we might have remained oblivious to the power of passion. All of these personalities were and still are our inspiration. It was their works, which inspired us to work with zeal.

Throughout the essay I have been trying to prove my perspective as to how it is impossible to make significant contribution in any field of endeavor, without first being strongly influenced by the achievements of past, but by no means do I encourage pastiche or plagiarism. We look at our idols to get inspired by them, not to copy what is theirs. At times, people tend to just modify the existing works of renowned personalities and present them as theirs. Plagiarism is a horrendous crime.

Not only is plagiarism a threat, also people must not forget that mere inspiration cannot take us to our destination. It requires perspiration as well. Going by the adage, success is a result of one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent of perspiration. I believe that without inspiration we might stay oblivious to what we want to achieve in life, but without perspiration, we can’t achieve even what we know we definitely can.