Stories of Success in Salome Thomas-EL's Book, I Choose to Stay

The book I Choose to Stay was written by Mr. Salome Thomas-EL. In it were short stories of success, which were his success stories, and the stories of the children, that he have touched and inspired. Mr. EL is an educator; therefore, he wrote this book for its readers to know and eventually learn from his experiences as a student, a teacher, and a human being. Every human being has his own unique genetic talents and abilities. One of these abilities is intelligence. Intelligence is the ability of a person to learn and understand. In the beginning of life, every human being was born with different levels of intelligence, but the level of intelligence that we acquire from birth doesn’t entirely affect what we become or if we succeed or fail in life. This has been what Mr. EL instilled in his book. However, one student who have read the book thought, that the message of the book was that smart people succeed, while not-so-smart people fail. In my opinion, the students’ attitude about the book is wrong, because our genetics doesn’t determine our level of success. We succeed by being hard working and determined, by having sufficient time, and by having a set of people that would guide and support us as we grow.

Skills and abilities are nothing compared to hard work and determination, and a positive attitude. It has been said that if you want to achieve something; you have to do your best to get it. You can’t just sit around and wait for it to come. You have to work and live your life, for you to achieve it. Salome once told his students, “If your mind can conceive and your heart can believe, you can achieve.” In addition to these words, he said “There is only one person capable of preventing you from reaching your goals, that person...

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... if not because of the guidance and support of his teachers and especially his mother.” The same thing applies to his students. His students became successful, because Mr. Salome Thomas-EL was a great teacher; he cared, enlightened and guided his students to the right path.

All of us have God-given abilities. And this “gift” needs to be opened, cherished and nurtured for it to be of great help in our journey of life. To succeed in life, the first thing we need to have is determination. Once we have the determination, what we need to do next is to manage and treasure the time that has been given to us. And after we have achieved those, the third thing that we need to have is a firm and strong support system. When we have all these three things with us, it would be much easier for us to succeed. What we need to succeed are merely sugar, spice and everything nice.