Thursday, November 17, 2011

This I Believe

This I Believe is a site that has various voice recordings and essays about personal experiences connected with peoples beliefs. We were asked to reflect and write about a recording we watched.

The name of the recording I listened to was called A Duty to Family, Heritage, and Country recorded by Ying Ying Yu at the age of 13. The Belief being discussed was responsibility.

Ying Ying Yu has lived her whole life being pressured by her parents and teachers to do well in school. In China, her home country, grades mean more to them than the compassion and caring given by a family. Teachers were strict and beat students when they got a bad grade. Her life was based on her parents dreams of her becoming a lawyer, even when she hoped and wanted to be a gardener. She felt that she had no choice than to follow her parents dream. She thought that she could not let all her parents and teachers hard work to get her where she is now, go to waste. Even though people have also told her to follow her heart and wants, she thinks that it is her duty to become a lawyer and follow her parents and teachers wishes. She wants to make them all proud. Ying Ying Yu talks of how she believes in duty and how "duty can bring her to something greater than herself".

This appealed to me because she was at an age close to my own. It made me feel lucky that I am not beaten when I get a bad grade and that I am not pushed and have choices in what I want to do with my life. It makes me wonder how so much pressure can be pushed on one person, especially when your just 13.

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