Elon Musk

Steve Jurvetson [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_2015.jpgMany may not realize it, but Elon Musk is not just another multi-billionaire. His resilience and risk taking has helped him become one of the most heroic and influential people of our time. Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. He was severely bullied at school and his parents divorced when he was only 10 years old. His father was abusive and his brother, Kimbal, was the only person who cared for him. His harsh youth motivated him to become someone great. In 1988, after obtaining a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa because he was unwilling to support the military service. He attended the University of Queens and the University of Pennsylvania. Right after graduating, he founded Zip2 with his brother. He later founded X.com, AKA PayPal, and sold the company for $1.5 Billion to Ebay. Instead of retiring, he founded several other companies in many different fields such Tesla and SpaceX. A hero must be willing to take risks and have resilience. Risk taking is important because heroes have to sacrifice something to achieve their goals. Resilience is significant because heroes always face obstacles along the way. They have to adapt to these obstacles to help their people. Elon Musk meets all the qualifications to be considered as a hero.

While some heroes risk their lives and comfort, Elon risks his money, which might not seem like a lot, but money is the foundation of life: “Repeatedly, Musk has entered a field about which he initially knew little and has not only succeeded but opened up major new directions in the industries involved.” ("Elon Musk Student"). This quote shows that he will risk everything to help humanity benefit from his achievements. He essentially goes into an unfamiliar market and starts his own business, willing to lose billions of dollars, just to help improve our way of life. He has shown his willingness to risk money on multiple occasions,  “Musk invested at least $55 million of his own money into the company [Tesla]...[The car] originally retailed for $100,000.” ("Elon Musk. Biography"). This was a great risk to take considering the approval rate of electric cars back in 2007. He sold a car that not many people would want for a staggering $100,000. On top of that, he invested $55 Million of his own money because he knew the real impact electric cars can have on our future on Earth. Elon Musk’s career is based off risk taking. He enters new fields he knows almost nothing about to help the human population thrive inside and outside of Earth.

Maurizio Pesce from Milan, Italia [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk,_Tesla_Factory,_Fremont_(CA,_USA)_(8765031426).jpgOn top of being a great risk taker, Elon is also resilient when it comes to his career. Heroes must have this trait because they have to overcome many challenges throughout their lives. Elon has failed many times in the past, but that did not stop him from achieving his dream of space flight.“The first was a failure because the engine caught on fire. During the second test in March of 2007, his rocket SpaceShipOne went 180 miles above Earth and reached only Mach 3 because of a mistake in the design of the fuel tank...The Falcon 1 finally went into orbit in September of 2008, marking the first time a privately developed liquid-fuel rocket orbited Earth.” ("Elon Musk. Newsmakers")  This shows that Musk never gives up on something that could be beneficial to our population. He looks at criticism and uses it as a daily drive to accomplish more and help the world benefit with his new innovations. Not only is he trying to prevent climate change and global warming with Tesla, but he is also looking for a “Plan B” on Mars. He was highly criticized for many ideas he had, but his resilience helped him overcome these challenges and achieve many things. For example, one of his role models as a child, Neil Armstrong, said that he disapproves of Musk and SpaceX. In an interview with The New York Times, he was asked about this comment from Armstrong. He was on the verge of crying, which shows that he was much affected by his role model’s thoughts. That did not stop him from innovating and coming up with new ways to secure a successful future as humans. Elon Musk lost, and still is, losing lots of money from Tesla, but his resilience has shown that he would do anything to accomplish his goals. “Elon Musk saw $1.1 billion wiped from his net worth in the first two minutes of New York trading” ("Tom Metcalf"). This quote shows that he is ready to go through any challenge, even if it means that he might sacrifice lots of money. He showed his resilience by overcoming these challenges and paying back billions of dollars in debt. Elon Musk has shown his resilience through his character and actions for the past decade. He overcame challenges that seemed impossible to many.

Heroes must be resilient and be willing to take risks because without these traits, they simply cannot be considered a hero. Elon Musk is an inspiration to me because he is confident with what he does with his money. This trait makes him the successful businessman he is. I want to be a businessman when I grow older so I try to learn from Elon Musk’s mistakes and I try to apply them in my daily life. Elon Musk has truly shown that he is a hero to the world because he is constantly trying to keep the planet suitable for us to live in.

Works Consulted

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Erik Gregersen. “Musk, Elon.” Britannica Biographies, Mar. 2012, p. 1. EBSCOhost,

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-EBSCO.   DEL NORTE HIGH SCHOOL. 1 May 2019.

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In Context,

https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K1631010511/SUIC?u=powa9245&sid=SUIC&xid=47ba40a0. Accessed 1 May 2019.

“Elon Musk, the Story of the Man behind Tesla, SpaceX and Solarcity.” Translated by Andrea

Cutolo, LifeGate, 28 Mar. 2018,

www.lifegate.com/people/lifestyle/elon-musk-biography-tesla.

Economy, Peter. “These 11 Elon Musk Quotes Will Inspire Your Success and Happiness.”

Inc.com, Inc., 24 Oct. 2017, www.inc.com/peter-economy/11-elon-musk-quotes-that-will-push-you-to-achieve-impossible.html.

Tom Metcalf. “Elon Musk Loses $1 Billion in Two Minutes as Tesla Shares Tumble.” Money,  

money.com/money/5640844/tesla-stock-elon-musk-loses-billions/.