Undergraduate / Influential person (mother and my own carelessness) - common app essay [3]

Hey everyone! this is my essay for the common app, the topic is as follows : Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.

When I was born to the world, my mother experienced a huge hemorrhage that probably capable of taking her life because she was too old for giving birth. Despite my mother's sacrifice when she gave birth, I have been treated as equal as my siblings.

My mother was the one who taught me the difference between living independently and living as a parasite to other people; a difference that figured notably in the process of accomplishment, of being a responsible person, of life.

Since our family financial is declining, she began to work excessively. As she worked every day without a day off, her influences began to degrade gradually. During her absence, this question always wanders in my head, "What happened to her?" In those years, she had never told me "congratulations", "great job", "good luck" or "good night" Moreover, she did not even come to my junior high school graduation because she got a lot of work to do. Unfortunately, our bonding is slightly loosened due to her change in attitude.

The silence continued throughout my high school years and I became introverted, depressed and discouraged. My mother came home only to dip herself in real-time price charts and her fluctuating graph of the stock market. So I hoped to ace my schoolwork, determined to teach myself the difference between reality and fiction, maturity and immaturity, independence and reliance. I kept a strong motivation to stay in the correct direction, take time for my siblings, avoided negative influences from my peers, and saw the world with my own lenses. Nevertheless, all of those have failed to catch my mother's attention when she serendipitously appeared at the dinner table.

The collapse in the stock market recently has driven my mother to leave that risky business. She began to be a Christian afterward, seeking guidance from God and hopefully starting a completely different life than the one that had destroyed her past. I can imagine only too well what her wishes were, because the same have run through my head many times: a closer bond with her family, the chance to give her children the opportunity to chase dreams, and a well prepared future plans.

One day, I realized that my mother was the most influential person in my life. Why did I have been capable of fulfilling my own personal needs without other people's intervention? Why did I prefer a do-it-yourself method? It is simply because of my mother's influences. My mother's intentions are positively brilliant for me to face the reality of the world, and indeed, her image was secretive yet stupendous.

A few weeks after I realized my own carelessness, my mother had a lengthy talk about my concern about studying overseas. It wasn't until I saw my picture with her at my elementary school graduation that I remembered what my mother had taught me so long ago. The real difference between living independently and living as a parasite to other people. I was mesmerized; that was bittersweet. The truth was my mother had never stopped supporting me.

Comments are much appreciated and I am looking forward to it :D

Undergraduate / "Without freedom of speech, the world would be biased." - issue and its importance [2]

Greetings everyone!
This is my essay for the common app. The prompt is pasted below

Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.

Nowadays, freedom of speech is mainly appreciated in most countries. Someone who has an expression, whether it is good or bad, could explicitly burst it out without considering that it would offend another people. Every people obviously has different ideas towards every aspects of the world, freedom of speech is instrumental to manifest these ideas. Without freedom of speech, the world would be biased.

In a developing country like Indonesia, freedom of speech often neglected in the past and people were afraid to express their feelings. This particular problem first occurs in New Order regime, which was led by Soeharto; he was considered as a dictator and corruptor by most of Indonesian citizens. In his presidential period, people were afraid to criticize his despotism. Nevertheless, there were individuals who tried to expose government's flaws through the media. Whether they are killed or exiled, the government wanted them to be removed from the community. As Soeharto's regime fell, people began to aware that they actually have the freedom of speech. Over the years, Indonesian book publishers gradually produce books containing educational topics such as sex education, communism, dictatorship, etc. that are considered taboo in the past. In turn, education is significantly affected by freedom of speech. To be specific, freedom of speech had an important role in flourishing Indonesia's educational development.

Through my high school years, I expressed a lot of thoughts which led me into my future goals. Although I was shy in my freshmen year, my fears of bursting my thought finally ripped off when I met my Chemistry teacher. One day he asked my opinion about bio polymers and I was speechless even though there are numerous ideas floating through my mind. I was afraid to show my ideas, as if I would be punished if I said something wrong. After class he invited me to his office and that inspirational talk began with me, standing like an ice block, afraid to stare his eyes. He said, "Hey, I know that you have some bright ideas. Why did you remain silence in class?" Without clear voice I answer his question, "Sir, I was afraid of being ridiculed by my friends if I said something wrong, or even funny in your class." He was shocked by my answer. Without hesitation, he immediately bombards me with a stupendous motivational line, "Wilson, everyone has his/her freedom of speech. There is nothing to be ashamed when you are ridiculed by your classmates and do not ridicule them when they have irrelevant thoughts either. Now get back to your class and just yell out your brilliant ideas. I believe the teacher will be on your side when your friends mock you, we are not in the Soeharto's regime anymore, son." Through that inspiring talk, I realized that I have to express my thoughts in order to prosper in my academic environment.

By experiencing this particular incident, I can conclude that freedom of speech is necessary for a student to germinate well in a competitive environment like university. As a student who pursues an engineering career, I believe that sharing ideas among peers and being confident will show a lucid path into a successful future.

Advices are much appreciated. Thank you :D

Please help in my grammar because I am not a native English speaker:)