Isn't it true that the more ignorant of the world we are the happier we are in it? It's easy to just go with the flow and live a care free life.
Conversely education, some of the things I value learning most in my life, have led to isolation from my peers.
The first time I had this experience was after I decided to become a runner. I put more energy and passion into running than I saw anyone else put in towards their endeavors. What it taught me was the values of hard work and long term commitment: the meaning of living for the purpose of achieving your goal. I made it my life for over four years. I also failed; I lost races I should have won. I know what it feels like to work for four years, pouring you heart and soul into something, and then fail. I also know how to stand back up and win the next time around.
Conversely I would see other runners. Perhaps they would set a goal halfway through one season, and after a month of focusing on this goal, with wavering ambition, fail. They'd be heartbroken. Are you kidding me? After putting in so little effort, how can you be so emotional? If your goals meant so much to you then you should have worked harder.
In the end I was left with a strong sense of dedication and ambition. The majority of people lack this much resolve, and so I am left, even to this day, feeling a bit segregated from them, as if they can't really understand or fully appreciate these values.
Going to college furthered my education and thus my isolation. Not only did I learn about the technical world of mechanical engineering, but I was exposed to city life in a bright and culturally diverse setting - Boston University. It was hard to return home. There was no good Chinese food, people were oblivious to some my new interests. They seemed to move around and think slower. My unique education had again led to segregation.
Now I'm fully immersed in a foreign culture. I've learned so much here to the point where I don't really feel like an American anymore. At the same time, I'm not a Chinese or Taiwanese. I'm not unlike an orphan. It's not that I wouldn't be welcome back in the US, or not that I'm not welcome in Taiwan, but my education of both cultures has brought me to a new level of isolation.
It's always been my personal belief that one should choose an unhappy truth over an ignorant bliss. I may be less happy, in some ways, but I'm certainly more satisfied living this way.
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