Final Definition Essay

Derek Lewis

Period 4, Expositiory Writing

Mrs. Boresen

March 24, 2011

Definition Essay 

In life, nothing is easy. Nothing is ever just handed to us on a silver platter. Without hard work, nothing is possible. As said by Gail Devers, “Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” Dedication is the key aspect to being successful in life. It affects how we are looked upon, how we act in our jobs or sports, and how we act as people in society. Think about how dedication has affected people. Think about what people do to be better people, better teammates, or even better brothers and sisters. Now, think about how it affects someone’s entire life, whether they are five years old or 55 years old. Are they happy with how dedication has changed their life overall? Or is the idea of going back and working harder always prevalent in their minds.

Dedication is not just putting everything into what someone loves, but it is a major part of school, sports, and life. Dedication is the act dedicating. As a verb, dedication is working as hard as possible to achieve what one wants most. The key word there is working. Without hard work and passion, this word is meaningless. There must be hard work along with passion in order for this word to have any affect.

 Imagine waking up on a Saturday morning in mid spring. The air outside is crisp and fresh. Now, put yourself on a baseball field and that is what dedication looks and feels like to me. As said by Eddie Murray”You know, you try and preach to them there's more to this game than just walking up to home plate, swinging the bat, fielding a ground ball. There's some dedication in it, some love you've got to put into this work.” (Brainy Quote) Dedication for me is just more than a word. It’s part of my life. It is in everything I do. I have to be dedicated to do my school work, making myself a better athlete, making my team a better team, and ultimately, making myself a better person. The word to me feels like giving 110% in everything I do. For me, that is sports. I push myself to always hustle and work hard during practice. Not just so I can be a better player, but it makes my team mates look at that and it pushes them to be better athletes too. If any of us slack off and aren’t giving 110%, the whole team suffers. “A team is like the human body, everyone has to work as hard as possible and in sync to function as best as possible.” (Coach Lewis) No one body part just sits back and lets everything else work, we weren’t made like that. And that dedication makes teams, but not just teams, but people great and strive for excellence.

Dedication just isn’t just in sports either. People may think that dedication is a word thrown around by sports teams and athletes, but look harder at the surroundings. People have to be dedicated to go to work and make sure their jobs are getting done the right way. An employer doesn’t look for lazy, mediocre workers who they cannot rely on, they look for the hard working, over achievers who they can count on to be there in the key times and be clutch. A good worker is willing to put in the extra hours, extra effort, and go farther than his colleagues to show himself off. Employers like leaders who lead by example. They look for people who need to be heard, not people who are trying to be noticed. As Martin Luther King Jr. says, “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” (Brainy Quote) No one wants to see someone who leads with his words, and promises one thing, but then when the time comes does something completely different. No one like hypocrites and nobody likes to be lied to. Dedication just isn’t putting everything you have into everything. It’s being that everything that people want. It’s doing that everything that everyone wants done. When that is done, that’s what true dedication is. And sometimes you have to dedicate yourself to doing something you don’t want to do. But you do it for the people you love. That’s when you really see what people are made of. And that they can do what they say and get it done efficiently without complaining or delaying the process.

Dedication has been used since the beginning of time. From cavemen, to the Romans, and it is still being used now. I have always been dedicated in sports and school. Doctors don’t get degrees by being lazy and barely passing college classes. They get their PHD’s by working hard and being the over achievers in every classroom. Dedication is the only thing that really matters in life, because without it, what does life really mean? What is our purpose if we just sit around not reaching our true potential as people, and even as human kind? What value are we to society if we just piggy-back off of the hard workers who bust their backs for us? How will we advance in order to survive?  In order to really advance technologically, we all need to excel and strive and dedicate ourselves in order to move on to the next best thing. We cannot imagine how great our world could be if only we all would dedicate and pursue the best things for ourselves. We live in America where our philosophy is I don’t want much, I just want more. Willie Mayes says it best” In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept constructive criticism. Without one-hundred percent dedication, you won't be able to do this.” (Brainy Quotes)

Dedication is life, and life is full of dedication. Without it, life doesn’t exist nor does it advance. We can only get out what we put in. And if that is nothing, we cannot expect to get very much, if anything, out of life. "What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog."  Dwight D. Eisenhower (Brainy Quotes).

Bibliography

"Dedication Quotes." Find the Famous Quotes You Need, ThinkExist.com Quotations. Web. 04 Mar. 2011. <http://thinkexist.com/quotations/dedication/>.

Brainy Quotes. Web. 04 Mar. 2011. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/leader.html#ixzz1FeMve7w7- Brainy Quote.com>.

"Determination Quotes and Dedication Quotations - The Best Quotes from Inspirational Spark." Inspirational Spark - Inspirational Quotes and More - a Spark to Inspire Your Life! Web. 04 Mar. 2011. <http://www.inspirationalspark.com/determination-quotes.html>.