<p>You could have done l00 different things this day but you chose to write and share your unique and powerful thoughts. Much appreciated.</p>
<p>Its two quite different styles of living. You cannot compare them. </p>
<p>However if you do , theres no arguing. Thanks.</p>
<p>A magnificent post…thanks for sharing your story</p>
<p>Don’tgiveup…I have tears reading your post. That was by far the single MOST INSPIRING THREAD ever posted that I have read here. A much deserved reality check for all of us stressing over this whole crazy process. My heart goes out to you and to what you have seen and gone through, thank you for putting things in perspective and I wish you the utmost success in your future endeavors. No doubt God will be by your side and continue to protect you. Thanks for sharing your courageous story.</p>
<p>Gomez, if the first thing that you say is two different styles of living, then you are with all due respect too ignorant to fully understand what this guy is saying. No duh…its two different styles, but he made a choice because he had to that put much of what we all are going throug in perspective. I think the only thing any of us should say is thank you.</p>
<p>Dontgiveup: You just made my day! I woke up thinking about all the waitlists I got and I’m feeling my day will be of an entirely different mood. Amazing first post :-)</p>
<p>With tears in my eyes, let me say thanks from the bottom of my heart. What you put down is very inspiring. Thank you so much.</p>
<p>hoo rah!!!</p>
<p>Thanks for the heartfelt post. It was truly inspiring and lends a new perspective to those of us caught up in the minutia of everyday life.</p>
<p>I saw this recently somewhere:
“If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading this in English, thank a soldier.”</p>
<p>Thank you! <3</p>
<p>From the bottom of my heart, thanks. I really needed that.</p>
<p>you know, if you hadn’t joined the army, you wouldnt have gone to Iraq.</p>
<p>then you’d have nothing to complain about.</p>
<p>^ If what I’m reading is correct and it’s a shot at the OP, you are an absolute moron and a disgrace to America</p>
<p>If you can’t stand behind our troops, then why don’t you stand in front of them?</p>
<p>To the OP: thank you, even though I’m in college already. If only you had posted that 1 year ago when I was waitlisted and rejected from my number 1 school, I wouldn’t have been in so much grief.</p>
<p>Thanks! It was a very moving post.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your post. It’s so important to hear another perspective vs. the whole “gotta get into ivy league or my life will end” junk. This is exactly the kind of post needed for people who feel that college is the be all end all. Thank you again, God Bless.</p>
<p>inspirational. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.</p>
<p>Congratulations! and thank you for sharing your story with us.
I had to stop reading several times to get tissues. :(</p>
<p>It really helps to keep things in perspective.</p>
<p>I currently attend the University of Pennsylvania, and sometimes I forget how blessed I am to be here. I have my own story but it’s in another thread (<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=3643268&postcount=114[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=3643268&postcount=114</a>), but that isn’t the story I want to focus on right now.</p>
<p>I have a friend here at Penn who told me an interesting story once when we were talking about life in general. She is a transfer student from Vietnam, and she told me that, for instance, last semester she was very unhappy. She was under a lot of stress and was getting B’s, and felt like she had no direction in life and didn’t know what she was doing anymore. We’re both Wharton students and so sometimes it’s easy to fall behind with the workload and lose sight of big-picture goals.</p>
<p>She did not feel like she had too many friends and was unhappy with her grades, and so to keep her head clear, she called her parents and said she needed to come home for Winter Break. On the plane ride, she took out a pad of paper and wrote down all the things that bothered her about her life at Penn. </p>
<p>When she got off the plane in Vietnam, she was instantly reminded of her roots. Kids barefoot in the streets, small humble meals, far fewer opportunities, and health problems. She tore up her list and greeted her family with open arms.</p>
<p>Sometimes you always get this “grass-is-greener” mentality. You always strive for more than you have, and when you don’t get it, you feel as if it’s the end of the world. But sometimes you have to remember where you actually stand and how many people would kill to be in your shoes. So many people want spots at top schools or the top jobs, but even at such places, you still want more. It still doesn’t seem good enough. Unless, that is, you step back and really look at things.</p>
<p>My friend came back and realized that her B’s meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. She attended a top business school and was already on her way to a successful future, and in perfect position to fulfill her eventual dream of returning to her country to help it in whatever way she can using her newfound experience, skills, maturity, and insights. Who are we to complain when so many others are born knowing of nothing better than what they have?</p>
<p>My friend and I look at my peers here at school, and sometimes even myself, with disgust when ridiculous complaints arise. One day I heard a girl exclaim to her friend after hanging up on the phone, “I’m so mad! My dad won’t buy me a car to use on campus!” and I felt like slapping her. A lot of people have an insanely privileged life and don’t even realize it. I grew up without a lot of the things that so many of my peers here at Penn had/have, but I still consider myself <em>very</em> grateful and privileged to be here, and so does my friend. </p>
<p>Sometimes you have to realize, you could be somewhere else right now. Your luck could have been different. Sometimes you dodge bullets you didn’t even know were fired. But then on that same note, sometimes people do, in fact, get hit by these bullets. You have to be thankful for the times you emerge from the fray safely and appreciate what you have.</p>
<p>Touching and very true post!! </p>
<p>My first job as a teenager I worked for a business owner who was a Vietnam Veterarn who also became a very special mentor to me. He often said America would be a better place if every high school graduate were required to serve their country for a few years before going off to college or the workforce. </p>
<p>We are all guilty of turning our heads away from the injustice in the world and focus too much on the materialism and entertainment prevalent in our country.</p>
<p>Thanks to OP for bringing to light how lucky we all are!!</p>
<p>What a great post! Thank you for giving us all some perspective. But mostly thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for serving our country. You are a hero.</p>
<p>I would like to repeat the sentiment that those two children expressed. I think I speak for everyone when I say from the bottom of my heart, “Thank you for safety.”</p>