Undergraduate / Essay about destruction and construction -- my commonapp main essay [3]

Though I know that construction is the root for the world, at an early age, I found destruction especially fascinating, luring me as the ring lures Gollum because I have always been inquisitive about the intrinsic conformation that composes the world.

No sooner could I hold tools in the "magic" box than I began taking my cousin's transformers apart, which freaked him out whenever he saw me approaching with a small screwdriver. As time elapsed, I started sneaking into my grandparents' room to filch minor electrical appliances and would act unwittingly later. Soon I shifted my targets to complicated devices. Years of destruction have given me acquaintance to the structures of various appliances, though I had got few chances to use my skill.

However, there was one thing that I had never considered dismantling - the camera my dad got for the "Best Selling" award in my city after ten years' efforts. I had managed to keep its well-being until one day I twisted the camera shot by mistake. I soon began conceiving the idea of disassembly since it was defunct. With little hesitation, I set out on my destruction. When I got rid of layer after layer, my delight increased exponentially. Yet the truth was that I hallooed before I was out of the wood since a screw was firmly rooted in the plate, refusing a microscopic stir. But as a professor in destruction, I conquered it as easily as ABC.

Now in front of me was meaningless metal, which used to be my father's treasure. It was me who turned it in to pieces! This camera was invaluable to my father who struggled his way out in this strange city all by his own toil. Also, it was invaluable to me. The camera had recorded my joy and pain, when, for example, I performed passionately as the leading actress, when I left the podium miserably after beaten by one vote in the election of Student Union, when I stood alone on the boundless grassland during my research... I must mend this camera.

I, however, was a complete novice about repairing. Then it was time to be my own physics teacher with the help of Internet instruction, to manage to recognize those optical elements with which I was awfully unfamiliar, including achromatic lens, nonspherical lens, optical low-pass filter, and infrared ray cut-off filter, all of which, in fact, made sense to me no more than Old Egyptian, and what made it worse, they looked nearly the same in substance. But, it was not so complicated to reconstruct all the parts even if I could not distinguish them very precisely, which, by analogy, demonstrated that theoretical terms were not so essential as pragmatic methods in practice. When all the parts were put together, I was extremely exhilarated at my succulent fruit as though I were the one who invented the camera; meanwhile, I still enjoyed memorizing those awesome words rather than simply being an amateur at repairing. This process gave me much satisfaction and showed me some peculiar charm I didn't really grasp previously - the charm of building up, of which destruction is just a foundation.

I think that there must be something I didn't fix well in my camera; maybe it is the optical low-pass filter since some fault color still exists. But the pleasure of construction loomed out of the fog. I came to realize that only do I make contribution to the society will my life be complete. Although construction demands more application and sometimes, sacrifices than destruction does, it is worth devoting to. I can remember when I raised money for leukemia patients with sweat on my forehead under the scorching sun and when I practiced dancing for the charity auction as a total tyro under the tease of others. Those experiences were painstaking, yet they made me feel full and I become a little sensitive and moved whenever I think about them. It may be unfortunate that I am becoming common, but now I trust in the value of constructing the world, which I will begin to dedicate my lifetime to in the near future with all the skills and knowledge I will gain in college.