"A Coney Island Life" Rough Draft

       What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything. When it comes to opportunities deciding whether you're going to do something or not, if you don't reach your hand out at that moment, there won't be a next time, and you'll learn how awful that regret can be. It's better to have regrets after doing something, rather than not doing anything and regretting it. In the poem "A Coney Island Life" by James L. Weil, it is telling us that we should take advantage of the opportunities that come to us because our goals and dreams aren't achieved through doing nothing.

       You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. "On roller coaster ups and downs, And seen my helium hopes break skyward without me". It doesn't matter where you start. Only that you begin. You have power over you mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.  Success isn't about being the best, it's about always getting better. You can't really wish for an easy life, but you can wish for the strength to endure a difficult one. You don't have to live your life the way other people expect you to. It is never too late to become what you might have been. No one has the power to shatter your dreams unless you allow them to do so. Make your hopes larger than your fears and your dreams larger than your doubts.  Accept failure, everyone fails at something, but one thing you can't accept is not trying.

       Don't let the mistakes and disappointments of the past control and direct your future. "Now arms filled with dolls I threw so much for, I take perhaps my last ride on this planet-carousel". Forget all the reasons why your goals won't work and believe the one reason why it will. If you change nothing, nothing will change. You are confined by the walls you build yourself. Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.  Everybody comes to a point in their life when they want to quit, but it's what you do at that moment that determines who you are. You can't be paralyzed by the fear of failure or you will never push yourself. You are stronger than your challenges and your challenges make you stronger. Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. Never let fear decide your fate.

       If you quit now, you will soon be back to where you started. And when you started you desperately wished to be where you are now. When feeling overwhelmed by a faraway goal, remember that you have it within yourself right now, to get you to where you want to be later. Giving up on our dreams is like dying while still alive."How many more times round I have to catch that brass-ring-sun before the game is up". Ask yourself, who do you want to be? Figure out for yourself what makes you happy, no matter how crazy it may sound to other people. Decide you want it more than you are afraid of it. Your choices should reflect your hopes, not your fears. The reason why people give up so face is because they tend to look how far they still have to go, instead of how far they have gotten. Life is simple. Are you happy? Yes? Keep going. No? Change something. Our dreams and goals is not a matter of chance; it is a matter choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, but to be achieved.