College Essay - Final Draft

Leah Mancuso
College Essay

          When the typical person thinks of Mickey Mouse, various words may come to mind. A few popular ones might be cartoon, children, or just simply, Disney. To me, however, a rush of words flow in. Inspirational, influential, imaginative and so much more. To me, Mickey is symbolic of the life and dream of one man, and the the whole world that he affected. This man, Walt Disney, created more than he most likely ever dreamed of when he drew his first sketch of Mickey Mouse. This sketch led to the start of one of the world’s biggest companies of all time, and one that influences almost every industry on Earth.
            All my life, I have been a dreamer. When I started off in high school, I lived off of my fantasies and dreams of someday being happy and having a life people could only dream up. After a while, it was hard not to believe that they weren’t reality, as they were so vivid in my mind. As I grew older and I matured, I realized that I couldn’t sit around and wait for these dreams to just “come true”. While I used to almost live by the quote, “Good things come to those who wait”, I realized that although patience is a virtue, some things did not come from simply waiting. While Disney movies are notorious for their prominent happily ever afters, in real life they do not come without work. Walt Disney showed this with his creation of the Walt Disney Company, which in no way was produced overnight.
             The biggest thing about Mickey that has had an influence on me and my life, is not actually Mickey himself but a quote about him said by Disney. The quote, “I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing -- that it was all started by a mouse,” is simple, but can go much deeper. The idea is that any small thought, even one such as tiny and insignificant as a mouse, can lead to something much, much bigger, like the Walt Disney Company. As far as my life, that quote and the idea behind it is something that can speak to me on many levels and something that I try to apply to my life everyday. When I think of my future in college, and the always infamous post-college job searches, I try to keep this idea in my head: to be big, you must start small. This is to also never be discouraged when you feel you have close to nothing, because every big thing had to start somewhere. So in my life I plan on never giving up when it seems my dreams are impossible. I’ll do it for Mickey Mouse, and of course, Walt Disney.