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Feed Back Really Appreciated. This is a First Draft
In the course of my life, I have found myself to be extremely fortunate because I have discovered that my character has been shaped and tested not by great catastrophes but a summation of little events, my friends and family and my faith in Buddhism. However, some events have left such an indelible mark that I remember them as if they were yesterday.
On family trip to Beijing, we went on a tour and passed through the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, Summer Palace and a whole plethora of pagodas, gardens and temples. I can recall the lacquered tiled roofs resembles the scales of gold fish, the winding serpentine character of Great Wall and the ancient willows and flowered trees of the many gardens. Before leaving the bus on many of our stops, our tour guide would warn us of the dangerous hawkers and scammers so when our group left the bus, we ignored them. As the group made its way through the garden I saw a boy about my age out of the corner of my eye. Despite the summer heat, he had his arms tightly wrapped around his body with hands covering his face. I walked closer to him; he was about my height, dirty, and 40 LBS underweight. He was a beggar. I gave him all the Chinese money I had. As he reached out to take the money, I saw why he had covered his face. After that, I remember our tour guide shooing him away and I remember my little sister saw his face and burst into tears. Until that moment, I had never felt so blessed and so ashamed.
It was this small event that have made me realize that my life is truly wonderful. The suffering of that boy was different than the suffering of people I saw on TV or in movies. It was real and it was made more real to me because I realized that had but a few circumstances been different, I would have been that boy. I learned then that we are all human beings and we all share suffering in this world. I wished I could fix the world with a magic wand, I wished people didn't have to hurt because when they hurt my heart hurt. But I didn't have any solution so I sought to find one.
Since then, I've experienced more of life, saw the world and been inspired by so many brave and wonderful human beings. I remember working in a hospital and I had a chance to talk with a man dying of cancer, 4th stage sarcoma.I wondered what I would do with my life had I been told I was dying. He had come to the United States seeking a better life for himself as a teenager. He worked full-time in college and owned a very successful company and became a millionaire at age 28. But he was not satisfied with his life, he was a miserable, angry person - a bad friend, a poor boyfriend, and a demanding boss. It was not until he was diagnosed that he began to discover what was really important in life. I learned from him that we all will someday die, but hopefully not for a very long time. He taught me that it is never too late to tell the ones you love that you love them, to cherish the people you have in life, and to be a good human being. I had forgotten this simple fact; my parents had long ago told me that they didn't care whether I was smart, good in sports, good-looking, but they said all they ever wanted was for me to be a good, caring person.
I have never in my life felt more close to that ideal than when I'm helping others. There are few things in life that made me smile as I did when a man with AIDS, who really didn't like me at first, told me at the end that I was a "good kid". I can imagine nothing else that I would rather do with my life than being able to help people in some of the darkest moments of their life; there can be nothing more rewarding than being to have people see you when they're scared and sick and then be able to make them feel better. Because after I helped someone, even if I was just fetching their urinal or translating for them, my heart would sing.
In the course of my life, I have found myself to be extremely fortunate because I have discovered that my character has been shaped and tested not by great catastrophes but a summation of little events, my friends and family and my faith in Buddhism. However, some events have left such an indelible mark that I remember them as if they were yesterday.
On family trip to Beijing, we went on a tour and passed through the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, Summer Palace and a whole plethora of pagodas, gardens and temples. I can recall the lacquered tiled roofs resembles the scales of gold fish, the winding serpentine character of Great Wall and the ancient willows and flowered trees of the many gardens. Before leaving the bus on many of our stops, our tour guide would warn us of the dangerous hawkers and scammers so when our group left the bus, we ignored them. As the group made its way through the garden I saw a boy about my age out of the corner of my eye. Despite the summer heat, he had his arms tightly wrapped around his body with hands covering his face. I walked closer to him; he was about my height, dirty, and 40 LBS underweight. He was a beggar. I gave him all the Chinese money I had. As he reached out to take the money, I saw why he had covered his face. After that, I remember our tour guide shooing him away and I remember my little sister saw his face and burst into tears. Until that moment, I had never felt so blessed and so ashamed.
It was this small event that have made me realize that my life is truly wonderful. The suffering of that boy was different than the suffering of people I saw on TV or in movies. It was real and it was made more real to me because I realized that had but a few circumstances been different, I would have been that boy. I learned then that we are all human beings and we all share suffering in this world. I wished I could fix the world with a magic wand, I wished people didn't have to hurt because when they hurt my heart hurt. But I didn't have any solution so I sought to find one.
Since then, I've experienced more of life, saw the world and been inspired by so many brave and wonderful human beings. I remember working in a hospital and I had a chance to talk with a man dying of cancer, 4th stage sarcoma.I wondered what I would do with my life had I been told I was dying. He had come to the United States seeking a better life for himself as a teenager. He worked full-time in college and owned a very successful company and became a millionaire at age 28. But he was not satisfied with his life, he was a miserable, angry person - a bad friend, a poor boyfriend, and a demanding boss. It was not until he was diagnosed that he began to discover what was really important in life. I learned from him that we all will someday die, but hopefully not for a very long time. He taught me that it is never too late to tell the ones you love that you love them, to cherish the people you have in life, and to be a good human being. I had forgotten this simple fact; my parents had long ago told me that they didn't care whether I was smart, good in sports, good-looking, but they said all they ever wanted was for me to be a good, caring person.
I have never in my life felt more close to that ideal than when I'm helping others. There are few things in life that made me smile as I did when a man with AIDS, who really didn't like me at first, told me at the end that I was a "good kid". I can imagine nothing else that I would rather do with my life than being able to help people in some of the darkest moments of their life; there can be nothing more rewarding than being to have people see you when they're scared and sick and then be able to make them feel better. Because after I helped someone, even if I was just fetching their urinal or translating for them, my heart would sing.
