PERSPECTIVE
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By Diana Lee
To be a citizen of the world, it is
essential to travel and live overseas to broaden one's perception of cultures,
peoples and global issues. To understand humanity, one must try to see the rich and the poor living conditions,
the beauty and the ugliness of life, and the best and the worst of human
nature. Education not only enriches one's soul but also frees him/her from the
borders of the mind and narrow vision.
As human beings are creation
of nature, we have one chance to embrace life to the fullest. Life is indeed precious — not to be wasted
on trivial pursuits, quick and temporary satisfaction, nor meaningless
existence. Instead, life challenges us to maximize our abilities, actualize our
dreams, and establish our ideal role as living creatures on Earth.
As the world undergoes
constant changes, so must human beings, collectively in society and
independently as individuals. To be successful in life, every individual has to
reinvent himself/herself to adapt to the surrounding changes — economically,
socially, and even politically. We live
in a precarious world where these three pervading factors affect every decision
we make in life. In fact, we evolve as the world evolves to the continuous
changes of the universe.
Speaking as an older person,
I believe that being persevered, positive thinking, and goal-oriented can get
you far. But, these qualities must be
inculcated at an early age. It’s sad to see so many youngsters don’t know what
they want to do in the future because they grew up not having anyone to admire
or emulate. Without role models or heroes, youngsters start to drift in life,
lacking motivation, hope or meaning to fulfill their destiny as complete human
beings. For me, I found my role model in a book when I was twelve years
old. Although my heroine was not of
flesh and blood, but she possessed the traits of what an ideal person should
be—compassionate, decent, determined, and brave.
Although a woman faces a
difficult climb to success in a male-oriented world, her contribution as an
individual to mankind is more important than as a credit to her gender. Beneath
all the racial, sexual and economic inequalities, what really counts is the
individual who has conscientiously made contributions to the human race. With that in mind, women ought to pursue
their goals not driven by the reason of feminism but by the desire to benefit
humanity.
As the Internet and international businesses spread, bringing people of all nations together, the world is obviously becoming one without borders. As humans, we have the responsibility as the sole guardian in taking care of our planet and all its inhabitants. If not us, who else can?