Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (150-400 words)
One here:
A visit to a nursing house for the elderly of Chinese immigrants was scheduled on my last year's sister-city exchange program in Seattle. While I have been doing community service in my hometown for several years, this experience was a total epiphany that changed my perception of "good deeds".
I saw a middle-aged Caucasian volunteer exhausted gestures of all sorts, mixed with muddling Mandarin, pleading an old lady to have her breakfast. After approximately ten minutes' "badgering", he finally caved in, with the old lady scolding in fluent Mandarin in the background. Later, he walked to me and expressed his displeasure. He complained about how disappointed all the good intentions "were flushed down the toilet" and how ungrateful those people were.
But he was wrong all along! Chinese people, especially the older generations, are acolytes to the idea of hierarchy in terms of age, with the elderly being the most venerable. This means you cannot approach them as if you were talking to a bunch of teenyboppers or close friends who can effortlessly understand your punch lines, which, unfortunately, he did.
Good intentions are not enough to tackle the misunderstanding. Lying beneath the facade are the cultural barriers. Different communities have different values, customs, and needs. Without understanding this, even the best intention can do more hindrance than help. Often we do what whatever we think is the best for the people we are helping, not realizing that, instead, what they think matters more. "Good deeds" are not helper-centered, but "helpee-oriented".
Now in retrospect, I feel lucky not to skip the visit merely because of the two-hour bus ride, for this shed light on what I hadn't previously realized. The "helpee-oriented" conception has guided me through every volunteering job and pretty successfully avoided turning my kindness into daggers. But I also understand this has always been a pandemic issue, in practice of medicine, shopping at grocery stores, and even everyday conversations. The complexity and individuality of human interaction inevitably lead to misunderstandings and miscommunications at times. And apparently, more efforts than volunteering are needed to close the gaps. I genuinely hope that, which I also wish my college experience will contribute to, people of same and different races, cultural contexts and whatever factors that lead to the gaps today can one day talk in same or different languages without being lost in translation.
The other one:
Mod comment: One essay at one time please
One here:
A visit to a nursing house for the elderly of Chinese immigrants was scheduled on my last year's sister-city exchange program in Seattle. While I have been doing community service in my hometown for several years, this experience was a total epiphany that changed my perception of "good deeds".
I saw a middle-aged Caucasian volunteer exhausted gestures of all sorts, mixed with muddling Mandarin, pleading an old lady to have her breakfast. After approximately ten minutes' "badgering", he finally caved in, with the old lady scolding in fluent Mandarin in the background. Later, he walked to me and expressed his displeasure. He complained about how disappointed all the good intentions "were flushed down the toilet" and how ungrateful those people were.
But he was wrong all along! Chinese people, especially the older generations, are acolytes to the idea of hierarchy in terms of age, with the elderly being the most venerable. This means you cannot approach them as if you were talking to a bunch of teenyboppers or close friends who can effortlessly understand your punch lines, which, unfortunately, he did.
Good intentions are not enough to tackle the misunderstanding. Lying beneath the facade are the cultural barriers. Different communities have different values, customs, and needs. Without understanding this, even the best intention can do more hindrance than help. Often we do what whatever we think is the best for the people we are helping, not realizing that, instead, what they think matters more. "Good deeds" are not helper-centered, but "helpee-oriented".
Now in retrospect, I feel lucky not to skip the visit merely because of the two-hour bus ride, for this shed light on what I hadn't previously realized. The "helpee-oriented" conception has guided me through every volunteering job and pretty successfully avoided turning my kindness into daggers. But I also understand this has always been a pandemic issue, in practice of medicine, shopping at grocery stores, and even everyday conversations. The complexity and individuality of human interaction inevitably lead to misunderstandings and miscommunications at times. And apparently, more efforts than volunteering are needed to close the gaps. I genuinely hope that, which I also wish my college experience will contribute to, people of same and different races, cultural contexts and whatever factors that lead to the gaps today can one day talk in same or different languages without being lost in translation.
The other one:
Mod comment: One essay at one time please
