¶ … recurring dream in which I am standing at a podium in front of a large audience. I am the head of an organization, although my exact title and the nature of the organization are vague. In the dream, I deliver a speech, detailing some aspect of company policy. I am sure of myself; I speak with authority and conviction but for some reason I stand alone. Not one member of the crowd agrees with me, likes me, or supports me. When I wake up I feel a strange mixture of pride and humiliation. Yet like Howard Roark, hero of Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead, I realize that my unpopularity does not preclude my success. Roark succeeds not according to an external scale of measurement, based on societal values or norms and fueled by conformity. Rather, Roark is a hero and a success because of his unflinching individualism and his willingness to stand up for his principles in spite of immense opposition. Like Rand, I look to heroes like Roark for my inspiration and role modeling. Unlike the fleeting qualifiers...
Success defined by individualism and nonconformity is a difficult and demanding path but which in the end yields the true mark of heroism: integrity.
Roark succeeds in the end in spite of his struggles, just as I will succeed regardless of how unpopular my ideas or notions may be. In the short-term I will define success by my admission to a school in which I can thrive, a school that can help me to hone my talents and broaden my horizons. While I intend to participate fully in campus life and student activities, much as Roark participates fully in his social life, I will also develop my unique character traits, those characteristics that set me apart from the herd and enable me to truly shine. Roark's contribution to society was his glorious structures, his edifices of monumental glory that testify not only to his genius but to the…
