College Application Essay: Take 1

*** Note: The following is written entirely by me and unauthorized reproduction of this work is prohibited. Thank you. If you wish, leave a comment with your thoughts; I am not entirely sure I like this essay so input is welcomed. ***

My name is Kristina Lu and I know not.

            I have a passion for the world, for other countries. So often we forget that we are not the only people here. The world does not center on us. Everyday millions of people are living their lives in different cultures in different countries, speaking different languages. The world is not a mythological place. People are living in places immediately unknown to us, yet, they are just like us; maybe they are thinking the same thing right now, even. Perhaps someone in France is experiencing her first kiss right now, or somebody in Africa is playing a game of soccer with his buddies. Who really knows? So rarely we stop to think about these things.

            But we should. At every moment of every day, 7 billion people around the globe are living out their everyday lives just as you and I are right now. As a Christian, it is my belief that God is watching all of these people – understanding and loving each one. Although I know it to be inevitably impossible, I want to be able to love and know them all, too.

            As I sit here at my desk typing this essay in modest Longmont, Colorado, I cannot help but imagine where I will be in the next three, five, ten years! Perhaps I will be typing yet another essay or report, but instead I may be sitting en una plaza in Spain doing work for a class in which I am studying abroad or an international company I may be working for. Maybe I will be sitting in a lecture hall in one of the wonderful states of America enjoying a stimulating discussion with my peers and classmates. Once again, who knows? Only time will tell.

            And it could be that my dreams are farfetched and impractical, but that does not mean that they are not attainable. It would be my suggestion to all people who have faced this type of discouragement to respond with the question, “who knows?” The rhetoric is almost irrefutable for, truly, no one knows everything exclusively – only God does. And so, as we are indeed only humans, it then becomes the beauty of not knowing the future that makes aspirations desirable. It is like former representative Barbara Johnson once said, “For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future.”

            Up to this point, I have written 403 words expressing this notion of content for uncertainty, desires, and longing to know about the world outside of the U.S.; however, I must admit, this is not a natural mindset for me. I am one of those people who need to know things, get things done. Uncertainty has the ability to tear me apart. But, in essence, all of this – my desires coupled with my thirst for knowledge and my passions, etc. – all contribute to a major growing process (which may or may never be finished). It is by being strong in my uncertainty and all of those “who-knows?-moments” that I believe I will continue to develop and know and aspire to more and more.

My name is Kristina Lu and I know not, but I look forward to the surprise.