American Experience

"Land of Freedom" thats what they call it, yes it is from a perspective. You have freedom, you feel it in the sense that you can really drive your life wherever you want. This is the reason so many smart people from across the world come here to change their destiny. And thats why I am here.

So, as a student I feel free to take whatever courses I want to take. It doesnt matters I have come as a Computer Science major, I can pass out as a greek history major. The professors I have come across are really masters of universe. The classes are interesting and after them I feel completely taken over by the subject. This is the joy of learning, unfortunately I did not get it back in India, even though I did my undergrad from a reputed college. There are options here, I can study whatever I want but back home it was they who decided what I should study. Even though many students feel lot of options make you even more confused but this is not a sufficient reason to not have options.

Even in professional world here, things are very flexible you can take up the task what you find interesting. This is what makes "America" the land of freedom. If you are ambitious about your life, you want to make a change, you feel strangled in your country, then it is a place to be in. Plus, you would find lot of people like you from across the world and this makes the life pretty interesting. Also, there many skilled professors who can guide you in many ways. So, all in all it is a perfect place to achieve your professional goals, which are very important for many individuals.

The reason that america is powerful is it lays extreme importance on individuality so that each american can be a very strong individual. But since individuality has its own shortcomings, american society also cant get rid of them. People are lonely here, the feeling of belonging to a society is not there. Its like every individual is a society in itself and it ends here. The thing which americans treasure most is their own "space". This is the last thing they will sacrifice. I think this is the reason that lot of people in america prefer to be single and hence, lonely. Being from a society where social values are given great importance, I have always viewed life as mixture of professional and personal part. And each part has a strong influence on the other so in order to have a good or satisfying life, one has to make efforts to do well at both fronts. Its not about just performing, its about feeling joy when performing, no matter how well you do.

Joy, is something I value very high. I am pretty sure if I ask a marathon runner, what he likes most, he would say running and running. The joy of running is much higher than winning because the prior is the one you feel it and the latter is the one others make you feel it. And I leave it to the readers descretion that which one is better but I am pretty clear in my judgement. Similarly, my dear friend, life is like a marathon and it really doesnt matters what frontiers you cross while racing but what is important are you having fun or not ? Always remember, whatever material you achieve or can achieve is not worth yourself.

Coming back to american society, I wish it was little more cosy, warm. I have talked to people in america and they are friendly but I cant mistake to call them my friends because the "space" always exists. I dont know it is good or bad, they are best to decide it, but I see a lot of void in their life which I think can be filled with love and warmth. But then they may not remain that efficient because they will be hung up on relations and that would affect work. But as another of my article says, humans should remain humans and not try to become as "efficient" as machines.

I see that life has lot of sorrows which come naturally, so since we cannot avoid them we can atleast try to fill our life with different colours of emotions. But, being human is not being american so i think I am questioning the basics on which this society stands and it is your individual achievements, power and grandeur.