Confessions of a Cat-holic (27)

Trust me or not, I was pretty damn sure I was that girl she mentioned in her essays, a split orange which the juice was all squeezed by the curriculum and a girl who looked for material things like an Esprit outfit to renew the wardrobe after the exam. Maybe even that girl who liked the Harry Potters and Who moved my cheese? My very-city attitudes and worldy manners could sometimes be mistaken as a materialistic girl with pretentious persona.

I was actually very curious to find out how Miss Smartie ended up doing in the United States of America, given her critical nature and an obvious misfit to the American culture. Was America run by meritocracy? Was America racist? Was America superficial? Was America elitist?

This was what she wrote to Yale University, but they didn't take her in the end.

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What are the two activities that I find particularly meaningful? I have been working enthusiastically on environmental protection all through the past few years. I am part of nature, and nature is an extension of my body. How can I be indifferent to stand up for it?

Being the chairlady of Environmental Protection Club this year has added to it another meaning. I learned how to lead with charisma. I inspire and motivate my teammates by my firm beliefs and the way I act. Rather than leading with authority, I try to make my teammates proud of what they are doing. It is the magic of self-actualisation that drives us to corroborate with one another with enthusiasm. In face of difficulties and frustration, I just keep going wihtout a word of lament, and my teammates will follow. I believe that spirit and energy is contagious. I learned how to give my comrades a sense of direction, just like the banks of a canal that guide the water flow. Yes, as humble as the bank of a canal, but as significant as a directory in an unfamiliar place. We all share a common goal---to save our environment and ourselves. This is a tremendous undertaking. I can fondly answer Martin Luther King's question--life's most urgent question--"What are you doing for others?". I am proud of my contribution to environmental protection. It is an invaluable serving experience--a service with honour.

Another interest of mine is also meaningful but people seldom notice. It is my love for observations. Witted observations. A collection of pencil drawings in Singapore's Art Museum really inspired me during my visit last summer. The artist conveyed a feeling of wind out of strands of pencil lines. I therefore went to the seashore and sat still for several hours, trying to capture wind. Although I did not end up with a masterpiece about "wind", the inspiration kept swirling in my mind that I could not help wondering how the aesthetic sense developed in my brain. Observations help me compile a box of inspiration that create and renew myself.

Yale's community is diverse and unique. What I can contribute is to add to it an enthusiastic, ambitious and thinking individual. To be specific, I will join the Student Environmental Coalition and continue to inspire people to think about their relationship with the environment. I will share my experience and observations with everyone in the community, and let my enthusiasm flow across everything surrounding me. Life is going to be immense. Also, I am sure to be mesmerized by campus; enjoy a converty or two during weekends in Woolsey Hall, and take advantage of the world-class speeches and debates arranged by the Political Union for self-enrichment. I will learn from my outstanding peers and experience a remarkable cultural mix with them. Yale is a place for that.

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Her essays were only so-so, but I guessed her grades made up for her personality flaws. I really liked that Chinese idiom, which said the dumb bird flew first. She was that dumb bird, and she flew wild and high all the way in the sky above the foreign land of America, never bothered to look back at her hometown.

But her essays were good enough to offer me inspiration, maybe sometimes as a counter-example. Nevertheless, her goals, her career paths, and her success all showed that she was brave enough to surpass her peers even if she was meant to be an outlier.