Future Uncertainty

My good friend, Choung, and I have been discussing whether he should get into nursing program. You see, Choung has a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and also a Master degree in Food studies. He's been studying, and struggling to work part time, all his life.

But why nursing when you have a Master degree in other field, you may ask?

The answer is simple - to obtain a precious ticket to live in the world of America, or better known as a green card.

Choung was looking high and low for jobs but to no avail. Apparently, it's not easy to be employed over here, even though you have higher educations. It's even harder after the terror of September 11.

What I admire most about Choung is his courageous and strong will attitude. He never gives up easily and always strive for the best. He is willing to sacrifice his time, money and effort to do nursing...that's like another 2 or 3 years of studying!

It's never easy to be an immigrant in this foreign land. Come to think about it, I realized that we, Malaysian Chinese, were also "immigrants" in our homeland. We always struggle to secure a place in the university due to the quota system; we have to work harder for our own future - paying loans and taxes; and we will never ever climb up to the top of the political ladder (not that I'm interested in politics, I'm just making an example here)

And because of all these obstacles we were facing during our childhood till now, we were polished, through the hard ways, to be tougher and adaptive to challenges. And I'm not just saying about Malaysians...I'm talking about Asians as a whole.

We used to despise the way Singaporean's attitude of being "kiasu". Deep down inside us, we are "kiasu" too. It's a competitive world out there honey...if you fall and fail to climb up again, you will be left behind the rest (Just like gay men, if you are not pretty, or doesn't have a ripped body, chances of getting hooked up is slim, RIGHT?!) I hate to say this but sometimes it's good to be "kiasu" and "kiasi".

While Edwina and I were walking to grab a bite after school, she complained how competitive her class was. Seriously, I'm not surprised at all because almost half of her class are Asian students. Asians tend to be more serious about their work, and work harder for their grades. Especially for international students like me and Edwina, we pay at least 10 times more for our tuition fees than the Americans. So that sort of forcing us to work even harder.

If only life is fair...but it will never be fair. NEVER. It's up to you to decide what is best for yourself because nobody is going to do that for you.

So Choung, no matter what you decide for your future, I have faith in you to do the best. No matter what happens, you have me as a good friend to support you in every way I could. That is because I am honored to be your friend.

God bless :)

PS - this post is not intended to stir up any flame on racist issues...so chill people.