Life is full of ambition. If it weren’t for our
intrepid ancestors who first ventured out from their hunter-gatherer ways and
into an agricultural revolution, civilisation as we know it could never have
been achieved. If it weren’t for the audacious scientists at NASA and the
Soviet Space Programme, man would never have set foot on the moon; and, if it
weren’t for the aspiring Mr John Cadbury, mankind would never have sampled the
sweet, blissful taste of a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate bar. Ambition is what
motivates people and makes them strive to make the world a better place, be it
to feed humankind, or supply us with divine chocolate.
Ambition resonates with me. Ever since I first read a
copy of The Times newspaper, I have yearned to follow in the footsteps of the great
correspondents John Simpson, Sydney Schanberg and John Swain. In fact, this is
why I am writing this very piece of writing now, because my ambition is to
become a journalist of the highest order (Pulitzer Prize included). The
American academic and former reporter Samantha Power once said, ‘I got into
journalism as a means to try to change the world’; this is a mantra (I hope)
all credible journalists hold dear to their great profession and one I hope to
carry with me into the future as I strive to become a more talented writer.
