<p>Will anyone please read my personal essay for Berkeley (and other UCs) and tell me what they think?!</p>
<p>Prompt: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?</p>
<p>Essay: When I was in the third grade I watched Pretty Woman. A movie that was most definitely not appropriate for a child censored as it was. I was quite intrigued by a word that kept recurring throughout the film. The word whose meaning I couldnt decipher was hooker. Societies, even in the most progressive of countries, assign highly negative connotations to words like hooker and prostitute that at the time I didnt not know of or understand. To the contrary, I was absolutely dazzled by the way Julia Roberts was able to find love and reinvent the essence of who she was. In my quest to better understand Pretty Woman and the various intricacies that made up the relationships of the adults surrounding me, I turned off the TV and immediately proceeded to interrogate my mother. Taken aback, she explained to me that I was never to use this word, and that my question was not appropriate. I quickly realized that what I had done was not only wrong but also socially unacceptable- a concept that I later struggled with. </p>
<pre><code> Eventually, as I grew older, I began to understand what a prostitute truly was and why such words had such negative connotations, but I still wasnt convinced. I continued to believe that prostitutes were the victims rather than the perpetrators they were portrayed as. I felt so strongly about my position that I even dedicated a term paper to prostitution and the sex trade in a way that portrayed prostitutes as victims rather than sinners. As a result, classmates often made me the butt of their jokes and I had many conversations with my mother that began with her saying, Why do you even care? My answer was always the same, Shouldnt we help people who need help? The truth was I didnt care what society deemed appropriate or what religion preached was sin and I often felt like a fish swimming against the current of a rogue wave. What I did care about was the passion I had discovered within myself, the responsibility I felt when I was confronted with an undeniable truth: those who have been blessed with privilege must ensure that those who arent as fortunate have something to live for.
I no longer take what people tell me at face value but rather I try to think for myself, understand hidden meanings, and see what others choose to ignore. Perhaps one day, with the right tools, I can become the change I want to see in a world that marginalizes those who are different.
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<p>Thanks for reading!!</p>