Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
The Reason We Trust
"What? You told her all that?" my dad yelled at me, staring into my eyes with anger and unbelief.
"Yes. I did." I replied plainly, turning around, leaving silence to him.
"How dare you..." he kept on, as I walked ahead. I can't remember how many times he has said things like this to me.
"Why do you trust her so much?" my mom stepped into my way, trying to keep her tone not to sound offensive.
"There has to be a reason?" I lifted my head and saw her trembling like a leaf in the wind. She knew it would end up like that. And it did happen.
I don't remember what happened after that, all I see is doubt. Doubt in everything. I am not sure if there were some real issues that my parents really got duped in. Of course if there were, they would not have told people anyway, including me. I've been lectured not to trust people, and I always disappoint my parents because I do. "Don't complain that we didn't remind you, when you really got taken advantage of." In 4th grade, I thought my parents were prophets when they said this. Later I realized it was just the beginning.
Once, I was getting ready to meet up my best friend in a bookstore on a Saturday afternoon. We were going to get a book, the one my friend and I have been waiting for almost the whole 3 months. Winter here doesn't get very cold. I wrapped a scarf around my neck, just in case I might get chilling on the way there. Just when I was opening the door, my mom started asking about how I've prepared for the coming test-the one would determine whether I'd be able to attend a good high school. I fiddled with the door handle, answering curtly. All I had in mind was the book and how exciting it was to meet my friend. I didn't notice her coming, until she slapped me, saying something I'd never think of at that moment: " Do you go through your mind before you do things?"
I covered my burning cheek with one hand, as she continued, "Why is she asking you to go here and there when such a significant test is getting close? Don't tell me that you don't know you two are close, in rankings." She stood in front of me, with arms akimbo. "She is trying to drag you down to the earth, so she could step on you and make her way out to the top."
For a while I felt so cold, deeply inside. My tear flooded and I yelled: "You can't say that! She is my best friend! She won't do that to me, she'll never..." slightly I shivered, my voice went weak. Will she? The momentary hesitation did scare me. Suddenly I felt I was a little assimilated by them, or educated, the way they say it.
"She will never." I said it aloud, word by word.
My mom left for making a phone call, saying that I wouldn't be able to go. I didn't stop her, but headed to the bookstore.
I got into the high school my parents wanted. And my friend got in, too. We still hang out; however, I never mentioned that I wasn't supposed to attend that appointment.
I understand how tricky this world seems, but I do believe that it is meaningless for us to seek a reason for trusting people. I can't ensure everyone I meet is trust-worthy, but my life will be more miserable than I imagine, if I trust none of them, like how my parents taught me. Life isn't easy, but I don't have to make it harder for myself. During the years I grow up, I know there are people by my side, whose hands reached out for me when I had my down times. I wouldn't have made friendship like that if I didn't trust them.
The ramparts need to be torn down. We are not really protected, until we are in a trusting world.
A world we live without seeking for a reason to trust.
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Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
Cured
When I first read about《Bencao Gangmu》(《Compendium of Materia Medica》), I got to know its author Li Shizhen-the greatest naturalist in China, who summarized his forty-year work into an epic book. Though his contribution to medical science is the majority of people's study about him, his life history had significant impact on me as his prescriptions did.
Li Shizhen was born in a family of physicians. His grandfather and his father were both well-known doctors, but they were considered relatively low on the social scale of the time. They cured hundreds and thousands of people with their outstanding medical skills; however, they didn't get respect from the society. From very young, Li was told to study hard, and never become a doctor. He took the Civil Service Exam three times, which was held every three years, trying to get a position in government. But he failed each of them. After these setbacks, he turned to medicine, in his early twenties, under the pressure from his family.
Indeed, even in China nowadays, political career is still considered "gold bucket". And the current Gaokao is for entering colleges, which pretty much seems as important as the Civil Service Exam in ancient time. Teenagers including me, studied hard for ten years, in order to achieve an admission to attend colleges-which is said to be the standard way of fulfilling purposes of life. My grandparents went through this. My parents went through this.
Am I going to do the same?
For millions of times I've asked myself. Sometimes I wanted to, when I felt frustrated and I imagined my life as simple as it could be-study, then tests, forgetting other things. But after the frustration was gone, I realized that it wasn't the life I really intended to have. The uncertainty made my head ache and I needed rest. I took the medicine documented in Li's book, to soothe my nerves. Suddenly I felt I heard the conversation between Li and his father, which I read long time ago:
"Father, please pass your medical knowledge on me. I want to be a doctor." Li bent over with apology.
"If you've made up your mind, I can't turn you down. Remember you are a doctor now; people's life is the only thing that matters. Go get my medicine-chest." said his father.
It must have taken Li a lot of determination to make this choice. He didn't go by the common practice, which eventually made him extraordinary. He fulfilled his life goal during the time he spent researching, collecting samples of herbs and studying different prescriptions. The book took him forty years, but every day of the past was regretless. He left a mark in the history, he is remembered to today.
"For what I do is to help people, I'll never back off." His voice echoed in the valleys, his sweat moistened the earth.
I drank up the decoction. The bitterness in my throat made me not able to speak a word for seconds. But my soul was lightened. Li went through the ten years of lost and figured out what he wanted to do, then he accomplished his goal with fruitful results. I have been trying to seek my life goal as well. And I want to find a career which I am able to do my best, helping build a better world for people. I don't have headache any more, because I don't feel lost about my future. I know what is in front of me. It's like Li's decoction, it might taste bitter, but it works well and effective.
