A Life Worth Living

To Dream or not to Dream

“I’m an adventurer, looking for treasure” (Coelho pg 40). In the Alchemist the protagonist is a young shepherd named Santiago who departs Andalusia for an enlightening journey. Santiago notices a recurring dream about a treasure in the pyramids of Egypt. To find this treasure Santiago must sacrifice everything he had. Throughout his journey he meets amazing people, clears high hurdles and learns some of the world’s most sought out answers. Santiago is aided by his ever-growing wisdom, brave actions and determined personality in order to reach his destiny.

On Santiago’s journey he gains useful wisdom and knowledge in an assortment of ways. First he is helped by his supernatural aid Melchizedek to recognize and understand his destiny. Melchizedek states “When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.” This is also known as the principle of favorability. This shows that you never make a wrong decision. Santiago also learns about alchemy and the soul of the world from the Englishman. Santiago is given books by the Englishman who tries teaching the boy about the Soul of the World and Alchemy. Even though Santiago is a bit unsure of what the Soul of the World is he understands that the Soul of the World always helps him out just like the principle of favorability. Finally Santiago learns about how to treat the present and the future from the camel driver. The Camel driver said to Santiago, “Because, I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man…Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment, we're living right now.” Santiago starts to understand that he has to livein the moment and treat everything like it’s special. Due to all this wisdom that he has gained he has gotten a little closer to understanding the Soul of the World and understanding how vital it is. He also needs some courage to gain a greater understanding of the Soul of the World.

Apart from gaining wisdom, Santiago also becomes a lot braver. One of the bravest acts that Santiago had to undertake was to take up his destiny. He risked 1/10 of his sheep to listen to what Melchizedek had to say about his destiny. In doing so Santiago started to understand what he was supposed to do, why he should follow his destiny. While on his journey to his destiny, Santiago stops in Tangier where he works for a Crystal merchant. The shop was in trouble and Santiago did not know how he would make enough money to go to the pyramids. He takes a risk in helping the store, making the cabinet outside even though there was a risk of the crystals breaking. This brought in more customers. This also allowed him to read omens and understand the principle of favorability a bit more. Another way Santiago was brave was when he said that Allah had told him that about the flight of hawks. Santiago’s courage was tested by the Alchemist. In order to pass this test Santiago had to read the flight of the hawks. Santiago noticed that the hawks were warning him that the Oasis was going to get attacked. The alchemist noticed that someone had read the hawks so he wanted to test Santiago’s courage. The alchemist tried scaring Santiago by asking him about why Allah chose to send this information to him not anyone else. The alchemist even said “Courage is the quality most essential to understanding the language of the world” this shows that slowly and slowly, Santiago gains more courage and edging towards understanding the language of the world. Courage and bravery is one of the greatest traits a person can have but to create these traits you also need to be very strong-minded.

One of the most distinctive traits of Santiago is that he is very determined once he puts his mind to it. One act, which showed alot of determination, is when he had lost all his money and he was determined on getting his money back. To do so he started working in a crystal shop. The shop’s was not doing well businesswise and it might have closed down. Santiago was determined to help the shop and to go to Egypt. The boy stated “I’ll work all night, until dawn, and I’ll clean every piece of crystal in your shop. In return, I need money to get to Egypt tomorrow”. This shows his commitment to whatever he wants to do. In addition to working in the crystal shop, he also was determined not to leave Fatima. Fatima is Santiago’s one true love. Thus, he did not want to leave her for his destiny. Even though Fatima was pushing for him to go he was reluctant to leave. Fatima told Santiago that she would not mind him leaving, she did not mind waiting. She is a woman of the desert; she wanted to be like the women of her tribe, waiting day by day for their husbands to come back. Luckily the Alchemist also gave Santiago a bit of nudge and Santiago was ready to continue his journey to reach his destiny. While Santiago was traveling to the Pyramids with the Alchemist, they got captured by one of the tribe. The alchemist proposed that if Santiago could turn into the wind in three days they could be released. The tribe accepted the proposal. Santiago uncertain on what to do he climbed on top of a mountain and started conversing with nature. Santiago kept going up to the mountain each day trying to find a way to meet the tribe’s expectations. Near the end of the three days Santiago started to understand what he was supposed to do. He had turned himself into the wind. He finally understood something, through his determination he was now a carrier of god.

Through Santiago’s journey he has moved from the countryside in Andalusia, to the markets in tangier to the dunes in the oasis. He used his wisdom, bravery and determination to clear what every lied ahead of him. Through his hard work he finally received his treasure, in the ruined church at the beginning of the story. Through his voyage he even gained the love of his life and learned some of the world’s greatest secrets. Thus Coelho has implanted a message in the book; there are two paths in life, to dream or not to dream.

M. Baldwin-Determination;Equine Art Original

Determination; A Key Trait

Determination keeps us going. Determination makes us go further than our comfort zone. I am known as the lazy person who does not really try but I assure you once I put my mind to something I will give a 100% of my effort in completing this task. For example going into a soccer match can be tough and nerve-wracking especially for a goalkeeper. One simple mistake can cause your team to lose. Even though you may have let in a goal, in order to come back you have to have a determined attitude to win and who knows you might come back and win the game. After you have tried your best you have probably sensed one of life’s great mysteries. Success. Success is great but if you work hard to gain it, it feels even better. Even if you don’t win and you tried your best, it may hurt at first but you most likely realize that you gained something through this loss. This special something if practiced will make you an even player and person in general.