It has been observed that there are many people who fail in life who are from parents who also failed in life. It has also been observed that there are some successful people who are from parents who also succeeded in life. The question that easily comes to one’s mind from these observations is, “What is the relationship between an individual’s destiny and his family background?” In other words, is an individual’s destiny determined by his family background? It is imperative that these questions are asked and also correctly answered in order to assist people to take responsibilities for their destinies.

It must be remarked that the belief that an individual’s success depends on his family background is not only wrong, but also misleading and deceptive. There are numerous people who have the best of family backgrounds; yet, they make nothing meaningful out of life. But there are some people whose backgrounds are nothing to write about; yet, they make the best out of life. As a matter of fact, most exceptionally successful people are from nameless families. It is imperative to remark that this observation is valid across the globe. How many people who enjoy exceptional success were born of parents that have names?

Do you know that there are more successful people from poor backgrounds than those from wealthy backgrounds? Do you know that there are more rich people who were born in poor families than those who were born in rich families? Though this claim can neither be scientifically verified nor falsified, daily observations lend credence to its truthfulness. In addition, daily experiences further validate the truthfulness of this claim. Perhaps, the fact that there are many successful people from poor backgrounds accounts for why a writer remarks that you should not allow your background to keep your back on the ground.

One of the factors that accounts for why there are more successful people with poor backgrounds is that poverty is usually an incentive for greater commitment in the pursuit of success. Children from poor families are usually convinced that since they have no back to fall on, the quality of life that awaits them in the future will be determined by what they are able to achieve with their efforts. Consequently, they are usually challenged to channel their best efforts into the struggle for breaking themselves from poverty, except they want to end like their poor parents.

On the other hand, most children from rich families, despite having all the advantages life can offer, have the tendency to pursue matters of success with less commitment, as they usually believe that such will not make any difference in their lives. They usually do not bother about their futures because they believe that their parents have secured them for them. This is why they usually waste time bragging over their parents’ achievements, rather striving to achieve something meaningful in life. They forget that their parents’ success is not theirs.

People should be praised because of their achievements and those of their children, but not because of the achievements of their parents. A child’s success is part of his parents’ success, but a man’s success is not part of his child’s success. While children should ensure that their parents’ success does not constitute a threat (or obstacle) to their future; parents should ensure that their success does not constitute a threat to the future of their children. Children should be encouraged to pursue their own success, rather than wasting time celebrating their parents’ success.

The point being argued is that your destiny in life is not necessarily determined by your background. The fact that your parents failed in life does imply that you will also fail in life. The fact that your parents are poor does not imply that you will also be poor. The fact that your parents are successful is also not a guaranty that you will also succeed in life. The fact that you were born into a rich family does not imply that you will be rich. You should strive to ensure that your background exerts no negative effect on your destiny. This is how you can qualify yourself as a candidate for success.