Trust Me, I Can Do It - Essay Example

?Trust Me, I Can Do It My parents were lucky enough to have been given a chance by their own families to go to the United s when they were younger in order to complete their college education. They needed to do that back then, because their parents believed that the United States had the best educational system in the world and anything they learned there could only help further the family business along once they returned to China. Their parents took a gamble on their future that paid off immensely for their children and the future generations of their family. It was because of that risk that the families took that the future of my own family is so comfortable and promising at the moment. My parent's experience as independent foreign students in the United States helped them build their character and enhanced their decision making skills. Needless to say, I grew up being regaled by their stories of adventure and mishaps during their time as college students in the United States and wishing to be able to experience the life changing lessons that my parents did when they were there. Every life lesson that they wanted to teach me about they somehow managed to relate to something that transpired in their lives overseas. I was fascinated by their stories and often told them that I too wished to go to the United States when it came time for me to attend university so that I could experience life first hand the way that they did. They were actually in total agreement with my desire to study overseas and live independently in the United States. My mom was very excited about my decision to study abroad and assured me that even though I am a woman, I have nothing to worry about when it came to the way I would be treated overseas. Even my father was looking forward to hearing stories about my first part time job and how I would manage to juggle work and studies. I was looking forward to hearing the uniquely American street sounds, tasting the continental food that America is so popular for, and just experiencing life with other people of my age who I was sure had their own life lessons to share with me. Then the violence on campus in America began to take center stage on the world news platforms. The Sandy Hook Shooting, the TDKR Cinema Shooting, and other violent occurrences within the shores of the United States made my parents fear for my safety. Specially since they had spent all their lives shielding me from harm and the dangers of the world. I was their little girl and they wanted to protect me forever if they could. So we began to argue about where I would actually go to university. I still wanted to go overseas and they wanted me to go to a university closer to home for safety purposes. This became a serious point of discussion within our household that often times led to misunderstandings between my parents and I. I knew that I was growing up fast and I needed to flex my independent muscles if I were to become a woman of independent will, strength, and substance in China. I needed my parents to realize that sending me to a China based university would get me the college diploma that I needed to earn the respect of my peers. But successfully completing my degree overseas would not only get me a diploma but also gain me the respect and admiration of my peers and our business partners. It would give mean insight into the world of business that only a well rounded foreign education can bring and I would be able to bring back business practices that would help enhance our business growth and presence in the 21st century. Parents can really be mule headed at times and mine was no exception. So I decided that I needed to prove to them that I could accomplish what I wished to set out to do. It was time for me to show them that I was responsible enough to take care of myself and that I had the ability to get accepted to a U.S. based university of my choice. It was a quest for independence that began in China for the benefit of my future life. My parents did not stop me from pursuing my quest to find a college to attend in the United States. It seems that they were convinced that I would outgrow what they considered to be my rebellious phase and eventually come around to their wishes. Little did they know that I was undermining them every step of the way by making moves so that I could take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) without their knowledge. After I aced the test and got my acceptance letter from this university, I went to my parents and begged them to sit down with me for a family conference. I presented my case before them, complete with my admissions letter and TOEFL results. I presented them with my 15 year life plan and explained to them how studying overseas fit into this equation. It was something that they refused to listen to at first. They were hell bent on keeping me protected in China and could not get over their mindset that the USA had changed a lot since they were students there. They were convinced the U.S. was not a safe place for anybody to be raising their children, much less sending their beloved child there to study in the university without any parents of next of kin to speak of in the country. They could not understand why they were leading me to water but I refused to drink from it. I felt that the family meeting was the last chance that I would have in order to convince my parents that there was nothing wrong with studying in the United States. I reminded them of the fact that their own parents took a risk when they sent them overseas in order to study. The world is no different today than it was then. My argument was that dangers exist everywhere, even in China. I acknowledged that they loved me very much and wanted to protect me but they were not destined to live forever and I would eventually be alone in the world and need to fend for myself. So why not take the chance and let me study overseas? I explained to them that I needed the challenge that an academic career in the U.S had to offer, otherwise I feared that a Chinese education would turn me into a rolling stone who gathered no moss. The dangers of the world exist in every corner. I reminded my parents that they had a noble heart because they put my best interests above their own. But shouldn't their best interest also include what would be best for my education? After all, I need a solid foundation in a degree that matters and I also needed to create my own network of contacts that I would be able to use to help further expand our family business in China. There was no way that I could accomplish those goals if I simply stayed in my comfort zone and completed my education where I knew I would not need to struggle too much to compete. Every young adult needs a challenge in life, this was the challenge that I wished to confront and overcome. I guess my pleas made sense to my parents. Even though it took them a few days after our family conference to give me their official blessing to study in the United States, I knew that they needed that extra time to come to terms with certain aspects of my U.S. based education. I would be separated from them for the first time since I was born and I would not be able to reach them for immediate help if I needed it. They eventually came to terms with the fact that I would from that point on, be an independent woman but still their child. They just would not see me as often as they wished to anymore. After explaining to them that I had every intention to come back home and stay with them after I completed my education, somebody had to help them run the family business after all, my parents blessed my quest for higher education with tears in their eyes. It's been quite a bit of time since those events transpired. I am still a student in the United States and no harm has befallen me so far. Not that I relish the idea of any harm coming my way. But for each day that I remain safe and happy as a student here, I am able to prove to my parents that my decision to come here to study was the right decision for me. They just need to continue to trust that I can do what I set out to do. Read More