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lifes mysteries
August 2009 
Probing Scholarship Questions: Purpose, Passion, Aspirations
Nece
To be the change that I think the world or my immediate circle of associates needs. By learning, serving, inspiring, and dreaming.
What do you love, and how do (or will) your actions demonstrate this? What do you care about, and what do you most enjoy doing?
I love individuals but I hate crowds. Perhaps it's the mob mentality that I despise, the implication of crowds that slumps people into mere sheep following an invisible shepherd, or a machine without a brain, merely operating without life and meaning. I believe that crowds and mob mentality however prevalent in our society today undermines the ideal of the infinite power of the individual. The infinite power to do good in a world that seems to be circling the drain down to a foreboding end or abyss. I love getting to know the individual. The stories behind each individual's make up, why they are the way they are. What are their belief systems, their passions, their doubts and fears, their goals and aspirations? Everyone has something to share, be it an insightful comment or theory that inspires a generation or a talent or invention that revolutionize the world, or just a simple smile to brighten another's day. And my part in this cosmic outreach would be to awaken and aid others in their potential to change the world. To spend some time each day out of society's hustle and bustle, to sit in the quiet and talk to someone. I wish to take time and effort to truly get to know the individual and to leave them better than when I found them, and maybe even to inspire them to foster and perpetuate their goodness in themselves and others.
Write your ideal job description. (250 words or less) If you could get paid just devote you life to? What would your days be like?
The mediator. If I could get paid to devote my life to something, I would want it to not only be something that I enjoy but also to something that will have profound impact on the lives that I've touched, in so much that perhaps the effect might transcend generations and cultural barriers. A day in the life of a mediator could almost be comparable to monks or missionaries, except instead of an emphasis on a religious figure. I would emphasis on the individual. My goals are not one of nihilism or atheism, but instead to explore and expose the similarities between the difference and sometimes warring religious, political, and societal beliefs and norms. To allow enemies to walk in the other's shoes, so that all may better comprehend each other. To foster and promote the inner light and good that is inherent in each individual, to harness that diminishing hope in society and in individuals to unite and create life-altering and life-saving changes that would inspire others to be brave. To inspire others to rally behind a common good, to allow our differences to complement each other not drive a wedge between the two. The mediator would also concentrate-accepting and supporting without judgment-- helping individuals examine the motives behind their desires and then to carry out those righteous desires to fulfill their potential and to help them realize that they could be the change they wish to see in the world.
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Great description of mob mentality and crowds… eek! You must be from the countryside, I just recently overcame my fear of crowded cities. I lived in Chengdu (population: 11 million) for 5 months while studying abroad. And I’m excited to go back, but sadly I have a hard time finding people with true “Indivuals” over there. The party does a really good job keeping people’s ideologies in check, however I have had some interesting conversations with volunteers working in rural Sichuan and in the Muslim region of XInjiang.
Actually, I’ve never lived in the countryside. The closes I’ve come to living in a countryside would be camping out in Northshore in Hawaii. I’m grown up mostly in the suburbs or cities. And I’ve never been to China, but I would really like to volunteer or visit there someday.
Thanks for commenting on my essay too :)
I live in the last remaining rural part of RI, haha it’s not just like Family Guy portrays it. We make our own maple syrup and when I used to get in trouble as a teenager, I’d get stuck with extended have to paint the barn using old apple ladders and scrape lead paint by hand. Haha good ol’ country work ethic. But yeah, the second weekend I spent the night in an earthquake tent, my “tentmate” asked me how to open a sleeping bag. I was shocked, I expalined and then tried to ask in Chinese if him or his family visited the country or camped. He said Oh no the poor people sleep outside, I like living in the city! It’s sad really… Also when it’s sunny in Chengdu, (very rare) all the young ladies don these daft-punk-esque visors to keep the son off their faces or carry umbrellas. As they have a great fear of becoming tan because it’s considered low class. Each year Chinese spend millions on “whitening products” many of which have harmful additives with detrimental health impacts. Anyhow on the flip side, as soon as the sun comes out in Chengdu all the foreingers jump for joy and bare as much skin as they please, as most of us think a tan is attractive and sought after. Quite opposite perspectives!
Wow, it is rural indeed, painting the barn and scraping off old lead paint. It’s all so foreign to me, only something that I’ve watched through TV and never experienced first hand before. I was born in Singapore, grew up in Hawaii, and now I’m at Utah going to school. So even though I know what you mean about how Chinese women are afraid of being tan, but growing up in Hawaii, being tan is natural and definitely always in style and besides like you say, the foreigners also find tan skin very attractive on themselves and others. But it must be quite a sight, especially if you have a whole bunch of Chinese women with the different color visors standing in lines. Perhaps forming a picture with their line formation, and then taking a shot from a top of a building or something. That’s definitely something, lol. Sorry, I’m a visual person. But yeah, it’s funny how beauty is so subjective and influenced entirely by the culture and society that we grew up in. There is one common factor however, and that is that no matter what women strive as hard as humanely possible to mold to the idea of what’s “beautiful.”