Ambition can lead a person to strive to get ahead.
The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) defines ambition as the desire to obtain power , wealth or fame . The term comes from the Latin ambitĭo and can be used in a positive or negative sense.
Ambition is considered healthy when it promotes action and the development of projects . The person who is ambitious aims to achieve something that he or she does not currently have. The ambitious subject, therefore, wants to improve, grow or progress. In these cases, ambition works as a driving force that encourages people to abandon conformism and mediocrity.
For example: “I always had the ambition to play football professionally and luckily I was able to fulfil my dream when I was hired by my town's team for an interprovincial tour” , “Filling stadiums with my rock band is my greatest ambition” , “That night I had won a lot of money at roulette and I could have retired happily: however, ambition got the better of me and I continued betting until I left with nothing in my pockets” .
The dangers of ambition
There must be a limit, however, so that this ambition does not become something harmful or dangerous. When the desire is so strong that the person is willing to violate ethical or legal norms to achieve it, the ambition becomes risky as it can harm the person or others.
It is often considered that the healthiest state for a person is one where ambition acts as a trigger for actions, but within the framework of coherence and respect.
Ambition can cause an individual to violate ethical standards and laws, as the "Simpsons" character Mr. Burns often does.
The case of Napoleon Bonaparte
There are many cases throughout history that demonstrate how ambition taken to its extreme brings with it all kinds of disasters and calamities. For example, we could highlight Napoleon Bonaparte, who was the emperor of France and had such ambition to become the master and lord of Europe that he carried out all kinds of offensives in order to colonize other nations.
The result of his actions was that he eventually found himself with more enemies than allies, leading to a situation in which his country was severely attacked and he was forced to abdicate. But there was more to it than that, in the end he ended his days exiled on the island of Saint Helena, where he died.
The ambition of Herostratus
Likewise, we cannot overlook the figure of the Greek shepherd Herostratus. His ambition led him to want to become one of the key personalities of the time, a man recognized and famous throughout the world. The way he did this was by carrying out the burning down, in 356 BC, of the famous Temple of Artemis, which was listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
This desire for notoriety and to do something that would mean that the whole world would know him, meant that this pastor was tortured until he confessed his act. As a result of this, the term erostratism exists today, which is used to refer to those people who have the mania of committing acts of vandalism to gain fame.