The energy to rise up in the morning

It was the last day of eighth grade. School was only in session for two hours that day and our grades were already given out. There was no purpose for that day other than to say our goodbyes to the teachers. The first four periods went by rather quickly. Each teacher repeated the same routine, wishing us a good summer and luck at the high school. Then fifth period came along and I headed off to Mrs. Marganski’s social studies class. When I arrived, I found most of my classmates already there. Everyone was laughing and happy, pleased about the fact that there was less than two hours of school left. As the bell rang, Mrs. Marganski got up and called us to attention.
“Guys, I want to tell a story about my father.”
I rolled my eyes, and quickly glanced at the clock. I thought to myself, “Why can’t we just have this time to talk among ourselves? It’s the last day of school.”
Obviously not aware of my inner thoughts, Mrs. Marganski went on with her story.
“When I was younger, my father worked in Sikorsky as a mechanist.”
Looking around the room, I could see that many of my classmates were alike in mind. We all just wanted for school to end. Even nature agreed as the sun’s rays shined vividly into the trailer classroom. Honestly, I just wanted to blank out. But because Mrs. Marganski was one of my favorite teachers in middle school, I listened.
“My father hated his job. He never wanted to work as a mechanist. Every morning he would look sullen as he headed off to work. My point is that you should find careers that you will enjoy. In fifteen to twenty years, as you wake up each morning you will have the energy to get up from bed out of your passion for your work.”
I wasn’t waiting to run out of the classroom door now. Somehow I knew that she was being genuine to us. As a result, I have been forever changed by her words. As I left her classroom that day, I pondered on the meaning of her words. Four years later, and in my final year in high school I am still wondering about these words. There is no doubt that Mrs. Marganski’s words have fundamentally altered my approach to life. Before high school I had no academic focus. I was headed on the fast track to becoming a generic Asian. For the most part, I excelled in math and I was deathly afraid of English. My parents are both scientists so I was naturally expected to follow their paths into that field. But until that day, I never consciously thought about how I was actually living my life. Reflecting back, I was not living the life that I wanted, but rather I was living the life my parents wanted me to live. But with my social studies teacher’s words, I started thinking about my own identity as Zhihao Li. Four years later, my self identification process has brought me to the classes I take today. Four years earlier, I would have never imagined that English would be my favorite class. Never in my wildest dreams or nightmares would I have imagined that I would want to go to college for the liberal arts. English was a class that I constantly feared. All my relatives were science or math majors. I could have easily followed the well paved path into being a science major. I probably would have, if not for Mrs. Marganski’s plea for me to find my own identity and passion.

Carpe Diem

Success in the form of money, or a position in a company, or other societal and materialistic aspirations is not what holds the value of one’s life. When one dies, unless one is extraordinarily famous, one will be forgotten in a generation or two. Human beings all have dreams and goals, but most people fail to attain those aspirations. Too often, people rely on other’s opinion as a measure of value. For many, Academic grades reflect success or failure on an assignment. If one receives an “A” on one’s essay, then it is considered a success; anything else is considered a failure. We as human beings rely too much on the opinions of the people around us. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.” Too often in the world, people spend all their lives frittering about what other people think of them. They aren’t living for themselves; they are living for others.
I believe that the single most important thing in life is to realize that the individual, not the society holds true power. Even though we are taught to believe in a system of “majority rules” unfortunately the majority is often wrong. Emerson said, “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is genius.” Once I can truly adhere to that statement I can say that my life has value. Even though I believe in Emerson’s words, I still am immersed in society’s influences. No matter how hard I try, my beliefs are still influenced by other people such as Emerson. The concept of the individual is something that I hold dear to my heart. I have been brought up by parents who emphasize tradition. Emerson and Thoreau inspire me to pave my own path in life, rather than to follow the well-worn path taken by many people of similar ethnical origin to me. Thoreau once said that, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” I feel that Thoreau’s insight applies to many people. Too many people choose to lead practical lives. Too many people resign themselves to jobs in a cubicle when they should be pursuing their dreams. After all, when one is on one’s deathbed, does it really matter if that person has money saved from a job that they hated? Is that security really worth giving up a dream?
The Peace Corps is something that I would really like to experience in life. There are so many people that are suffering in this world. While many of my classmates (myself included) moan and groan about college applications, there are many children in this world that would die for the opportunities that we have. The things we take for granted such as education, free speech, and even the basic necessity of clean water are not available in many places in the world. To that end, I would like to give back to the people that we as a nation took advantage of. If continents such as Africa were not ravaged of their natural resources, if their people were not enslaved by imperialistic invaders, if their environment were not polluted the wealthy first world countries then they may not have the rates of extreme poverty and disease that exist there today. By joining the Peace Corps, I hope to educate people and give them a chance in this world.
With the Peace Corps, I also hope to acquire experience in different cultures. I realize that my perspectives on the world are extremely limited. For most of my life, I have been raised in suburban communities, which to say the least is not the best place to acquire different perspectives on life. Before I die, I hope to stay in every country in the world. There are so many different cultures in this world that I am completely ignorant of. As I want to harness a greater understanding of the meaning of life, it is necessary to explore different cultures and their traditions.
My greatest materialistic ambition is to write a book on my views. Unfortunately, I realize that few if at all any people in this world can make a living on writing what they believe in. Somehow, realistically I have to balance the desire for a dream and the necessity to make a living. This is hard for me, as it undermines the principle that I believe in: To follow your dreams rather than to succumb to the pressures of society. But, in some way I will write a book before I die. It might never be read by anyone except for my own eyes, but that doesn’t matter. The book is a validation of my own life, of my own beliefs and dreams. The book’s purpose is for me and not for anyone else.
On the other hand, before I die I would like to influence and change at least one person’s life for better. Through what role I achieve this does not matter. I could be a teacher, professor, friend, parent, or stranger to the person. What matters to me is that I change a person’s outlook on life. When I die, chances are that I will not be remembered as a great historical figure. But most people in life are in the same situation that I am in. That isn’t something that should be pitied because our beliefs are remembered by the people that we influence. Physical life is a very short thing, but our beliefs are always alive as long as someone in the world remembers them.
I remember reading The Great Gatsby in sophomore year English. To be honest, I hated and detested the book until the last page. But the last page describes clearly the purpose of life.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter-tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…. And one fine morning-
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. (189)

The meaning of life is quite clear. All humans will die one day. We cannot change the inevitable. But whether our lives are purposeful depend on us. We can be “the mass of men that lead lives of quiet desperation” as described by Thoreau. Or we can be like Gatsby who tried to obtain his dream even when it was long past him. That is the purpose of life: to keep trying and to “beat on, boats against the current” even when failure is inevitable.