Respected judges! I am pleased to inform you all that the opponents aren’t charmed at the prospect of clinching that top prize. They are instead happy in trying very hard. Success is a journey not a destination. This is the bone of contention in today’s debate and I’d like to express my views contrary to the topic. Success is a very subjective term. So first and foremost, we must understand what it means. According to Oxford dictionary, success means gaining what is aimed at. Doesn’t the definition from Oxford dictionary clarify some things? Albeit, in our favor. Well, doesn’t everyone undertake a journey in life? I suppose so. So, is everyone a success? If success for you is building your own house, then is success achieved by the mere building process or at the completion of the house? Success is achieved by dreaming right? So how many of you have dreamt of pure hard work? Because that is the journey, right? So is every hard worker a success? Is every rikshaw puller a success? Or a daily wage earner? Is the sweat, hard work, desperation, and the immense stress worthwhile, if you don’t get what you desire? So what is actually important? The hard work or the getting-what-you-desire? I mean, forget all those fancy quotes being spouted, answer all these questions honestly, and I think you’ll know. Tell me how do you identify a successful person, by the goals that he has achieved or by the number of trials that he made. And tell me are all those persons also successful who quit their chosen path midway? See, they too began a journey. If only journey were success, then they too are successful right? Is Abraham Lincoln, 13 times failed a success or is Abraham Lincoln the greatest president of US the success. And, if success were a journey, then it would be an ongoing thing right? Then how was history written? Clint Eastwood has reached his destination. It doesn’t matter whether his movies bomb or succeed. He wont be more successful or less successful! He is successful. Full stop. Sabeer Bhatia is successful. It doesn’t matter if he later goes bankrupt because he was able to conceive the fantastic and audacious idea behind hotmail.com. Besides does a journey have a meaning if its destination is not well characterized and etched out. In a university, what is important the everyday studying or getting the degree? When a doctor operates a patient, he is bothered about the end result. If the operation is not successful then should the doctor be contented with the fact that he tried hard and with the best instruments? Look at Thomas Elva Edison. Thousands must have embarked on the same journey. But the only one who reached the goal was successful right? It is not going out, but coming in that determines the success of a voyage.

Henry Beecher