As I counted all my blessings this Thanksgiving, I found myself becoming ungrateful for too much gratefulness (and not enough of other thing).
This time last year, I was teaching English to a group of Miao and Tibetan elementary school kids in rural Guizhou and Qinghai provinces of China. Although kids were kids, (they loved to hit our butts and run around crazy during recesses), I still vividly remember how focused they were in class. Despite not having proper stationery (we bought them notebooks, pencils and soccer balls as gifts because they didn't have any of these) and never having learned English before, they were very attentive and focused in class. Even at an Ivy league school I have not found eyes with such keen eagerness to learn. (In fact my eyes are mostly closed during classes).
Since then, I was determined to spend my time and energy on under-privileged children, but soon found myself getting greedy and lazy. This summer in Seoul, Korea, I had initially made an account on the website for tutoring kids from less materially affluent backgrounds for free. But when my acquaintances offered me heavy cash for tutoring their rich middle school kids, I quickly forgot about the account I made. Little did I know these expensive tutoring sessions would be more like baby sitting sessions, as none of the kids actually wanted to learn as much as their parents wanted them to learn. The monetary and personal benefits I received definitely pointed in the opposite directions.
Before school started, I had been excited about coming to the University of Pennsylvania which is right next to West Philly, as I thought I would have so much volunteering opportunity to teach motivated but under-privileged kids. But college had power to quickly consume me in the bubble, and because I did not prioritize West Philly early and consciously, I found it hard to pick it up as I fell into a rhythm and only got busier with more responsibilities.
I had also been excited about working for Givology as a way to help the needy children around the world (Givology is both my management 100 client and I am one of the tech associates). Although my management team has done a lot to raise awareness for Givology, I found it hard to get super-motivated without having personal interaction with kids like my Chinese friends who were so pure and bright.
Not only in terms of time, but I have also been stingy in terms of resources. As we pay quite exorbitant tuition for college education in the US, I was determined to not pay a cent for anything else as all our room and food are covered in our tuition. However, I found myself easily dropping $10 to catch a cab downtown and enter parties, while being too lazy and stingy to donate $5 US which is equivalent to a few days' work in the developing world to enhance a needy child's education.
Recently I bought a Macbook and a Blackberry because I thought my laptop and cellphones were too slow and therefore not as efficient and convenient. Talking about efficiency and convenience, many kids I taught in China lacked basic stationery and as I was homestaying with one of them, I know they eat the same meal of rice and spinach three times a day (occasionally they would add some eggs or pork). Many kids boarded at school away from home because the nearest school from their village was more than three-hour walk away, and they slept on hard wooden beds without mattresses.
So why this gloomy confession on Thanksgiving? Because as a practical Penn student, I believe thanksgiving should not end in the realm of ideas and feelings but should galvanize one to action. Although from New Years I know that resolutions almost never materialize, I would like to take this time to commit to becoming more generous with my time and energy. I have heard the argument that high school and college are times to develop one's skills for greater impact later and I do partially agree with that statement, but I also believe I do not know when I will leave the earth so should always be ready to go by giving and learning at the same time. In fact, the founder and many executive members of Givology are still students which means nobody can get away with this excuse.
So thanks again all my elementary school friends in China for teaching me so much more than the abc's I taught, and may the gratitude we feel this time of the year spur us to more action.
This time last year, I was teaching English to a group of Miao and Tibetan elementary school kids in rural Guizhou and Qinghai provinces of China. Although kids were kids, (they loved to hit our butts and run around crazy during recesses), I still vividly remember how focused they were in class. Despite not having proper stationery (we bought them notebooks, pencils and soccer balls as gifts because they didn't have any of these) and never having learned English before, they were very attentive and focused in class. Even at an Ivy league school I have not found eyes with such keen eagerness to learn. (In fact my eyes are mostly closed during classes).
Since then, I was determined to spend my time and energy on under-privileged children, but soon found myself getting greedy and lazy. This summer in Seoul, Korea, I had initially made an account on the website for tutoring kids from less materially affluent backgrounds for free. But when my acquaintances offered me heavy cash for tutoring their rich middle school kids, I quickly forgot about the account I made. Little did I know these expensive tutoring sessions would be more like baby sitting sessions, as none of the kids actually wanted to learn as much as their parents wanted them to learn. The monetary and personal benefits I received definitely pointed in the opposite directions.
Before school started, I had been excited about coming to the University of Pennsylvania which is right next to West Philly, as I thought I would have so much volunteering opportunity to teach motivated but under-privileged kids. But college had power to quickly consume me in the bubble, and because I did not prioritize West Philly early and consciously, I found it hard to pick it up as I fell into a rhythm and only got busier with more responsibilities.
I had also been excited about working for Givology as a way to help the needy children around the world (Givology is both my management 100 client and I am one of the tech associates). Although my management team has done a lot to raise awareness for Givology, I found it hard to get super-motivated without having personal interaction with kids like my Chinese friends who were so pure and bright.
Not only in terms of time, but I have also been stingy in terms of resources. As we pay quite exorbitant tuition for college education in the US, I was determined to not pay a cent for anything else as all our room and food are covered in our tuition. However, I found myself easily dropping $10 to catch a cab downtown and enter parties, while being too lazy and stingy to donate $5 US which is equivalent to a few days' work in the developing world to enhance a needy child's education.
Recently I bought a Macbook and a Blackberry because I thought my laptop and cellphones were too slow and therefore not as efficient and convenient. Talking about efficiency and convenience, many kids I taught in China lacked basic stationery and as I was homestaying with one of them, I know they eat the same meal of rice and spinach three times a day (occasionally they would add some eggs or pork). Many kids boarded at school away from home because the nearest school from their village was more than three-hour walk away, and they slept on hard wooden beds without mattresses.
So why this gloomy confession on Thanksgiving? Because as a practical Penn student, I believe thanksgiving should not end in the realm of ideas and feelings but should galvanize one to action. Although from New Years I know that resolutions almost never materialize, I would like to take this time to commit to becoming more generous with my time and energy. I have heard the argument that high school and college are times to develop one's skills for greater impact later and I do partially agree with that statement, but I also believe I do not know when I will leave the earth so should always be ready to go by giving and learning at the same time. In fact, the founder and many executive members of Givology are still students which means nobody can get away with this excuse.
So thanks again all my elementary school friends in China for teaching me so much more than the abc's I taught, and may the gratitude we feel this time of the year spur us to more action.
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© 2008 Givology. Givology does not guarantee any repayment or return on your grant of any kind.