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As a creation of nature, a human being has only 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 you to maximize your abilities, actualize your dreams, and establish your ideal role for a living creature 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 in civilization. We live in a precarious world where economics, society and even politics affect every decision we make in life. In fact, we evolve as the world evolves to the ongoing changes of the universe.
Speaking as an older woman, 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 ultimate responsibility in protecting and taking care of our planet and all its inhabitants. If not us, what else can?
A part of my philosophy on life is to understand humanity-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. So, I started to travel around the globe by first joining the Peace Corps as a volunteer and then working abroad as a teacher. I finally settled down in Japan to run a cram school, for I believe education not only enriches you but also frees you from the borders of the mind and narrow vision. To be a citizen of the world, it is essential to travel and live abroad to broaden your perception of cultures, peoples and global issues.
Looking at the world as an observer, I've tried my hand at writing as a freelancer in the last few years. Some of my works have been published in magazines and websites: J-Select Magazine, Gate39.com, Thingsasian.com, and Koreanfilm.org.
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