for tomorrow

Everyone’s born better at some things more than others. Some people are really tall, others really smart. People usually pursue what they are best at, and this works out in a couple ways. First, people generally have unique talents, so it balances out across the human population. More importantly, following what you are best at reinforces the motivation that drives continued dedication and thus progress. I think this idea is something often associated with passion— an unreal amount of dedication is usually only possible with reinforcement through progress. By seeing that you are better than others at something, you naturally feel that a continued pursuit of that will lead to more happiness. Thus, in a broad sense, passion is a byproduct of talent. Here we define talent as any ability largely inherent to birth. Most things I can say I’m passionate about, like programming or math, I’ve had lots of success in. Don’t get me wrong, it's very misleading to say that passion is solely depe...

I was asked by a friend if I would go into STEM olympiads if I could relive my grade school experience. I was honestly surprised by this question, mainly because the person I was talking to was the most respected “math person” at our school. They clearly had olympiad success and from various team competitions I knew they genuinely loved problem-solving and math. So when they answered the question, I wondered why they would erase such a big part of their life. I see my friend’s point, olympiads don’t give you practically applicable skills. Most people don’t practice olympiad math while looking for a job, why would you need to? And from a pure utility, “the most benefit in the least amount of time,” point of view, maybe working on hobby projects is the best way to get the most bang for your buck. Working on building a robot or writing a website relates directly to what someone might want to explore in the future. But should we really be looking to think like this as high school students?...

I still remember how life was before quarantine, being carefree and indifferent to the big problems of the world; living life through the highs of today rather than the worries of tomorrow. And many people say that quarantine made kids grow up too fast, showing them that the world isn’t a perfect place, rather a collection of imperfect ideas that when looked at from the right angle gives the illusion of tranquility. An illusion that was broken in seconds. When people say this, they usually mean it negatively, as if to say being older is being thrust into a world with problems, without the solutions. And I completely agree with this, but is it such a bad thing? As people, we naturally feel lost when there’s nothing we’re working towards, like a big promotion, a group project, or a nonprofit cause. But children haven’t developed this sense of self-awareness. Naturally, as we get older, this universal fact becomes clearer and even self-evident. I feel lucky that I got a taste for this dur...