food for thought
I remember I wrote about this in my (old) blog before. when i was in junior high, i read a story about how there are two types of people- potato and egg. the potato types start out hard and goes soft when boiled, while egg types are the other way around. it’s an analogy of how people are after they went through the “boiler” that is the hardships in life… they either become soft or hard like the potatoes and eggs. one thing i can’t remember though, is which one was supposed to be the “good” kind of transformation. i guess i missed the most important part of the story, hah! but i feel that it can be left to our own judgments.
what i realized just today is that if people are potatoes and eggs, does each and everyone of us eventually gets the chance to be “boiled” in such way? i feel that some people will never get to that point, because life can be so… normal. so cookie-cuttered, so safe and so mundane that it’s impossible to achieve such extremity if we are not consciously pursuing it.
which brings me to my next point. i heard an very inspiring story from a certain president of a certain company today. in everyday life, he keeps very low profile (though one should be aware of his success judging from what he has today) that if he hadn’t told me, i would have never guessed in a million year how he had it in the past.
he went to medical school in Taiwan, graduated second in his class, and came to Harvard as a scholar exchange in the medical field during his last year. then, as if that’s not already an accomplishment enough, Harvard practically *begged* him to try their MBA program. he didn’t submit his application because of the ginormous tuition and even passed the application deadline without applying, but gave in when Harvard still didn’t back down.
his family was considered wealthy, to the point that Harvard’s hefty tuition wasn’t a problem for them. however, he refused aid and turned down all offers of help from family, all except $6,000 that he brought with him to the US. obviously this wasn’t enough for Harvard’s $37,000 a year tuition. he couldn’t accept any scholarship for a certain period of time since he was a foreign student, but he persisted and got a job washing toilets at a local Chinese restaurant (told me he knows how to change toilet seats). he and his now wife survived over staple college kids food like cup ramen. on some nights he would wait in front of dunkin donut’s for the leftovers because they are $1 for eight donuts, which he ate in a span of a week with his wife. during winter time, he wrapped himself in a thin blanket and froze in the cold snowy day.
fast forward fifteen years later, to say that he reaped the result of his hardwork is a complete understatement. he now owns a couple of houses and properties in bel air, owns an office building in LA, and owns a business which consisted of seven health care facilities all over LA. basically, he’s the dictionary definition of a self made billionaire. everything he has now he worked hard from ground up with little to no help.
he told me that if he hadn’t gone through those kind of hardship, he’s not sure if he would be where he is today. he could have been better off, but the experience has given him a sort of wisdom that no one else can achieve otherwise. it made me realize that i should stop pitying myself, because life hardships… once you get through everything, only good can came out from it.
oh, and then he went to UCLA AND USC for even further education. what the hell is there after grad school??
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