Never knowing whether the decision an individual makes is smart or not epitomizes my parents. They made the choice to emigrate from the Philippines to the United States without envisioning what the future would hold. Once they arrived, they would never look back.
Before I was even born my parents came to the United States only to hope of having a better life. Hope is what kept them working hard. Hope is what made them able to support a family. Hope is what kept them looking forward and not lamenting on the past. They made their decision and made the best of it. This idea is something of true value to me.
One of my first experiences in making a decision that would affect my life forever was when we had to move. I grew up in Escondido, California for 11 years and when my father said we were moving to the barren, hot desert of Temecula, California, I automatically refused. I didn’t want to accept that we had to move and I hated my parents. I always complained and tried to persuade my parents to stay in our old home. It didn’t work. We moved. For the first year in our new home I hated it. I understood that there was nothing I could do and my parents got sick of my complaining. They told me to move on and not dwell on the past. This changed my outlook on life from then on. I learned to be strong and to keep moving forward because looking back is going to slow you down on the road of life.
I cherish this lesson greatly and have recently made another decision. That decision was coming to UCLA. I applied to MIT and CalTech but ended up getting rejected. I regretted not being able to go such highly accredited engineering schools and how I was stuck with UCLA. However, I looked forward to going to UCLA and making the best of my experience there. It turns out, I am completely grateful for being rejected from MIT and CalTech because I undoubtedly love UCLA. I have never looked back on my decision on coming to UCLA. There won’t be any slowing me down.
Why do I do what I do? Because there ain’t no turning back.
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