This is Who I am, This Who I Want to Become. 

<script async src=”https://static.medium.com/embed.js"></script><a class=”m-collection” href=”https://medium.com/extra-credit">Extra Credit</a>

As a young adult, I’ve seen enough of the world suffering. In the streets of Beijing, a legless and toothless mother tugged on my shirt for spare change, something I didn’t have. In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I witnessed a horrific motorcycle accident where no one offered to help the dying young man. I watched helplessly as they washed the blood off the streets. Even in the U.S., I saw an elderly women shivering in the cold streets of Downtown Los Angeles. The world is not as it seems. I took for granted things that have always been available to me. Through my trips, I found my interest in life: to help people.

I was only twelve when I left the U.S. for the first time to go to China. I was excited to be visiting such a dominant world power. Most people would remember The Great Wall, but what I remember most was how little aid the Chinese government provided to its citizens. Homeless people roamed the streets everywhere, not only the mother and child, but also children standing outside McDonalds, waiting to ask tourists like myself, if I wanted my food. I didn’t expect to see such poverty in a world power like China. After I returned, I started to think about the poverty in the U.S and made it one of my goals to help others who had less than I. I started to make a habit of trying to aid others who were suffering. I looked into health care professions and began to read on how I could help.

My second trip was even more memorable. I visited Cambodia, the country my parents fled from so many years ago. They came to the U.S. as refugees from the Khmer Rouge Regime and wanted my sisters and myself to catch a glimpse of the life they had. Knowing that Cambodia is a third world country, I prepared myself for the worst. I saw widespread hardships. We visited the Tuol Sleng Museum, a former high school. As I walked through the halls and in the rooms, I saw multiple torture devices. There was even a room dedicated to prisoners’ skulls and execution weapons. My parents always told me vivid incidents about the war, of how the government would kill educated people and that the methods would be slow and painful. Methods including: slowly starving, vigorously drowning, and intensive backbreaking labor. Millions of people died, including some of my relatives, and the thought of people suffering pushed me more toward wanting to help others by taking advantage of the education in the U.S. Now that I am going to graduate high school, I look back and remember how I felt when I walked through the halls. I was determined to take advantage of the education system, and make sure I get the best education to go on and continue an even higher education.

There is an increasing number of people and families that are poverty stricken. Growing up in Los Angeles, I saw so many people who lived on the streets. Especially during the holidays, I would go to downtown with my parents to purchase Christmas lights and see all the homeless on the streets. I felt so bad for them because they looked so ill and didn’t have a warm place like I did. It was another experience that pushed me towards medicine because if those people were medically taken care of, they could have a better chance of surviving in this world. I want to be the person that helps change lives.

The most valuable thing I have brought back from my trips is my growing awareness of the need to help others. After witnessing all the suffering in those countries and realizing what my parents had experienced, I decided to pursue a career in healthcare. I don’t want to see others suffer when our world has advanced technology that can help. I am an ambitious individual with multiple strengths that is ready to leave the comforts of my home to take the next steps to give back to society. With a higher education I can take advantage of the great schools we have and contribute to the well being of others. My road to success has only begun and will continue until I reach my goal of helping others.