I don’t know how to save a life…
Last week I was talking to a friend of mine from college. We have not talked in ages, so obviously we were keeping up with each other. Naturally, we were also talking about our mutual friends. Surprisingly, it seems like almost nobody is doing what they were studying in college.
For example, a friend of us, a Japanese girl who studied DWA (Diplomacy and World Affairs) and trained to be a diplomat. I remembered that she told me that she wanted to go law school in the east coast and then pursuing a career in the United Nation. I thought her plan was fabulous. At that time, my friends and I naturally could see her doing something along the line of Japanese representative in UN. However, to my surprise, somehow, she has let go of her college dream. After college she decided to go to an Architecture School in the west coast. She now gracefully practices architecture down in LA.
Here’s another facinating story about a friend of mine who studied biology at Cornell. He was so intensely brilliant that he finished college in only three years. Considering the competition in the biology department (read: everyone is Pre-Med), three years is equivalent to impossible to accomplish. With his credentials, I thought he would be a great surgeon. But, here I am, wrong again. He ended up going to Law School and now he’s making tons of money as a corporate lawyer in Japan. Then, there’s also another friend who was physics major from HK. He was also one of the brightest people I have encountered. He was in the 3/2 program, where he got two degrees in five years. One, from my school and the other one from Caltech (California Institute of Technology). He started as a physics major at my school and then he majored in double E (Electrical Engineering) at Caltech. Anyways, I thought he would be doing some fancy innovation work in some high tech company. However, I am erroneously wrong. He now works in Asia. He is a successful entrepreneur; amongst others he has a timber company in Laos, a wine business in China, etc.
Are you still up for more? Here is a wider of the mark. There was also my laid back next door neighbor. He was a philosophy major; the kind that was also an artsy kind in a neo-hippie style. In college, he drank notoriously and never understands why I would want to crucified myself as a bio major. For him, science is just way too complicated and a waste of time. Consequently, he is a firm believer that “not wasting time” is to pursuing answers to questions such as “the meaning of life” or “why are there religions in this world?”, etc. Somewhere between graduation and today, his “abstract mind” completely changed. To my surprise, right now he just finished his 3rd year of medical school (he still have one more year). Then afterwards, he will start his seven years residency program. Mind you, he will be in the neurology. And this was a guy who thought I was just being “typical” and “too logical” for studying bio.
Then there’s me. By train I am a biologist, and I used to dream saving lives by curing cancer. I used to dream to be working in a super high tech lab in search of a cure for cancer. Then, somewhere along the bitterness of not wanting to be stuck in a bio lab dealing with rats, frogs, etc, and plus my curiosity for the stock market I went away to study finance. Then after almost five years pursuing a career in a finance world, I ran away to the other side of the world to support someone else’s dream. To make things more “convoluted”, I am studying completely different area than what I have studied.
Many people politely commented to me, “oooh you poor thing, you changed your career, you wasted money, time and energy studying biology”. I usually stared politely right on through and said “no, I never feel I was wasting anything when turned left, whilst others stayed right”.
People may completely change their dreams. However, that does not mean that we have no aspire in life or have lowered the standard of our dreams or just simply given up when things gets difficult. More importantly, it does not mean that we have wasted money, time and energy in our earlier part of our life. I am a true believer that multiple skills or wide range of skills stimulates a wider and broader knowledge. Thus creates much more sensitive and more open minded breed of people. Hence, it’s not a dream that they changed, but it’s a matter of “revolutionizing” their dream. It is an adjustment or amendment. This modification may be related or not to the “end product”. But, do not ever regard it as “a waste of time”. An example that is very common and becoming more and more “ordinary” is that nowadays medical schools accept psychology graduates, so that doctors would understand to communicate to their patients.
Please do not misunderstand me; I also do highly admire those who devote themselves to one particular profession. For example, my husband wanted to be an architect since he was in the 7th grade. He is still loyal to his profession. And truthfully, I admire him for his strength, determination, endurance and devotion for his love towards architecture.
Lastly, I may not know how to safe a life, but, I truthfully feel none of us have anyone to blame for whatever others have done with our own personal lives.
