Living in the world (of today) there are two things that seem limitless but in fact both have limits. These are time and money.

Money; regardless of how much you earn during your lifetime money only truly belongs to you once it has been spent. The amount of savings you have in the bank cannot be considered yours, because after you die you cannot withdraw even half a cent. Therefore earning and spending money cannot be objectives in themselves. When you earn money it reflects the value of your life. When you spend money you realise that your life's aim is most important. However we must be careful not to go too far for the sake of money₁.  

So let us consider poverty as the starting point on the road to achieving wealth. Poverty is the richest experience a person can go through. Many successful people use the experience of their path to success to say that poverty is the foundation of success and prosperity₂. Many children whose parents were so poor that they [the children] didn’t go to school become successful when they were adults. It is even easier for students from a poor family background to become successful after starting off with an ordinary job.

Admittedly, it is good to be born into a wealthy family but this might lead to deterioration and ruin. To be born poor can act as a type of incentive and a challenge. As a result you rely only on yourself to make it in life.

In American history those who have been successful almost all started as children in poor families. Not only did they receive the motivation from being poor, they also saw poverty as the foundation for success. Therefore because they had many skills they were able to achieve many great successes.

Grover Cleveland was twice elected US president yet he had once been working as an ordinary shop assistant with an annual salary of less than $100. His example clearly shows that poverty can harden people and make them stronger, and that a person’s greatest asset₃ is to be born into a poor family. It shows that the motivation and will to fight stimulated by extreme poverty is enduring and powerful.

Benjamin Franklin said “Poverty itself is not frightening. What is frightening is assuming that your life is destined to be in poverty or that you will die in poverty.” The great scientist Marie Curie lived an extremely tough life when she was a student in Paris. As her academic results were outstanding the mathematician Madam Djinski applied for the “Alexander Scholarship” on her behalf. The scholarship was only 600 roubles, but this small amount of money was a big help to this female Polish student. At the time Marie Curie regarded the award as a “lifeline₄”. Several years later she achieved her first scientific research success and as a result received a financial reward. This reward was earned through hard work and she should have been able to enjoy the benefits herself. However after receiving this reward Marie Curie remembered that 600 rouble ‘Alexander Scholarship’ she had received many years before. So using her first financial reward obtained through hard work, she strived to save up 600 roubles to repay the Alexander Scholarship Committee. The  committee secretary was shocked after receiving the money because in the committee records there had never been an example of a student repaying the scholarship. The reason why she repaid the money was because she wanted it to be the ‘lifeline’ for another impoverished student. From the story of Marie Curie repaying her 600 rouble scholarship we can see that she had high moral character.

  

Notes:  

₁ Literally: We should be careful not to bend our back for money.

₂ Poverty is the starting point on the road towards success and prosperity.

₃ Literally: wealth

4 Literally: A lifesaving ring

 

翻译： fionyang