How I see it

“How can I become better faster?” On an ordinary night, I video chatted with my dad and asked him this question.

“Why do you ask this question again?” My dad said with a slight reproach.

On that night, we talked with each other for around thirty minutes, mainly about my personal life and struggle. While there is little to struggle about. Sometimes, I fuss about nothing when I feel unmotivated or overwhelmed by difficulties in life and study. That is what teenagers do (I regard myself as a twenty-year-old teenager).

My dad’s main point was to remind me do not rush the desire to succeed. Life takes time, and success also takes time. I was pretty relieved when hearing what my father had said. In our life, we are too eager to succeed and rush to improve ourselves. There is nothing wrong with a strong ambition. But what we should do with our firm aim is to take action in our life actively. Since action speaks louder than words, by acting, we can achieve our goals and make progress. Just take your time, step by step.

My father used the example of our national hero, agronomist, and father of hybrid rice – Yuan Longping. According to my dad, Yuan Longping’s daily routine was simple, planting seedlings in farmland and doing research is what he did. He made such a prominent achievement by putting effort into his work. My dad also mentioned some fun facts about Yuan Longping. He liked to play basketball when he was in high school. The national basketball team was hiring new members from his school. Still, he was not chosen as he ranked the fourth in the competition where the national basketball team only hired three persons. As a result, he did not continue to finish his basketball dream and enrolled in an agricultural school.

By telling the story of Yuan Longping, my dad wanted to address that life is unpredictable. Just finish the business in the front, and your life will be cool. In my opinion, as a middle-aged man, my father has his point for saying so. But I can’t entirely agree with my dad’s opinion. A generation gap seems to appear in this circumstance.

People’s point of views differs not only because of age but also because they have a different experience in life.

A few days ago, I had a hot pot with my friends. Suddenly, we started to talk about the impression we left for each other. Unfortunately, according to my friend, who was older than me, I was regarded as immature and unsophisticated. They say I have not seen the real world, the real-life of other people, and experience the hardship of life. I was not surprised by what they had said. Because my friends are from different places and they have a different life experience compared with mine. I know the different experiences will result in separate opinions, and I know ideas and truth are two different things.