Growing up I’ve always felt like it was harder for me than most of the kids my age, I felt completely torn apart. Going from home to school was like going to country to country. At home it was all Vietnamese all the time, my parents are extreme nationalist, they believed no other was better than theirs, although they live in America. Growing up with that was so hard, because with language barriers and customs the cultures collided. Then school would be a complete disaster because having my parents engrave Viet pride in me I never had a chance to socialize with kids at school, it was like being brainwash in my own home. I started noticing that my fellow students at school started to think I was weird because I wouldn‘t know what to say; they would make fun of me or say things about me behind my back, and so that’s when I started feeling torn apart. I started despising what my parents have done to me, and I hated how the kids at school could be so careless and ignorant of other students problems.
Anger had spread through out me, I started having problems at home I would tell my parents off and tell them to stop forcing their culture onto me, they got the message and I became the black sheep of the family, I also began to become like the kids I hated, I started putting people down and in a way it helped me cope but I couldn‘t help it I was just so confused, and on top of that everyone still thought I was weird. When I entered my high school years; Stress and major depression had engulfed me, I started failing at school and confused about what to do. Then after a year of finding my way through the dark, I met this girl in a class of mine, whom I got to know over time, and learned that she was confused and lost like me too. I wanted to help so we shared our stories and gave each other some well thought out advice.
I learned from listening to her stories to forgive and let live, and share the peace. To find emotional peace and peace of mind by displaying the peaceful side of yourself, being able to fight emotional imbalances will help anyone with problems even some physical problems can feel better with a tranquil attitude. Peacefulness makes you feel alive and it clears the distress in your life, by changing the way you look at it. And she learned from my stories to always give love, even if you get no love your self or even receive no love, it’s something that makes life worth living for. Sharing love is something I believe everyone should learn, no good comes from hating on one another, it might benefit you but compassion benefits everyone always. Imagine a world where almost everyone had a passive nature and had no need to make others feel any lower than they already feel. I live for these values because these values have changed my life for the better. I believe in the values of peace and love.