The Case for Goku
How to be the best
Either die Goku or live long enough to become a Gohan. That is my motto for life.
In the world of Dragon Ball Z, Goku is considered to be the best of the best (sorry, Vegeta). He trains relentlessly and he is always excited to meet new and stronger enemies. He demanded the same for his son Gohan and at one point, Gohan actually surpassed him.
During the Cell Saga, Goku put up a great fight against Perfect Cell, but he was no match, and his untimely death made it seem like the Z-Fighters had lost and Earth was doomed.
Fortunately, Gohan stepped up big time and gave Cell a big can of Whoop Ass.
Rise then quick fall of Gohan
After defeating Cell, Gohan was at his peak. He was the strongest Super Saiyan in the history of Super Saiyans. All signs pointed to him taking over the reign as Earth’s mightiest hero. So what did he do? He went to college and stopped training. WTF?
Due to his lack of training, Gohan was in no shape to face the next big bad of DBZ: Majin Buu. After a few rounds of fighting, he got absorbed into Buu’s tummy.
Goku returns
Even after his death, Goku never stopped training. So when he was called upon to save the world once again (he gets resurrected, that happens a lot in the DBZ world), he was ready to fight. He was in the best shape ever. He even took the Super Saiyan form to a new level, the SSJ3.
Well, the Earth still got destroyed but Goku eventually defeated Buu, and restored the Earth by using the Dragon Balls.
What I learned from Goku: always be training!
If I want to be the best that I can be, I should never stop training. I would keep learning and keep practicing, and get excited about new challenges. I would rather die as someone with great skills than live as someone with great potential that’s never realized.