A few weeks ago, I watched The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith. To quickly summarize the movie, the main character endured great struggles and went from rags to riches. A few times, he referred to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." He questioned these unalienable rights through his struggles and eventually pursued his own happiness through financial independence. The tricky thing about happiness is that it is relative. A person of a lower social economic status may be happy for attaining financial independence. However, the same does necessarily not apply to another person who is financially stable. People tend to think they will become happier by attaining things they did not have previously. Because different people have different needs, different things make different people happy. Happiness is an universal emotion yet it is reached in different ways. These differences lead me to think and question how does one pursue his/her own happiness.
Growing up in a Chinese American family, parents constantly compare their kids with others. They want their kids to be smart, to excel in school, and to be better than other kids. Whenever there is something I can’t do as well as somebody else, my dad always asks me, ‘How come that other kid can do it and you can’t?’ The constant comparing encourages mimicking, and discourages individuality. I have learned that the Chinese culture values getting good grades in school, finding a good paying job then getting married and starting a family like everybody else. American culture values finding a passion, working a job they can enjoy, and individuality. The Chinese value bonding and being like everybody else, while Americans value being an individual. The Chinese American culture is one where these two sets of values are vastly different, and if being like everybody else isn’t what a person wants as an individual, there is a problem in pursuing happiness.
3 comments:
Peter,
I enjoy reading your post because you raise a very good question: What is it like to be an Asian American?
People in the API community are oftentimes in conflict between their Asian and American identities. The American social system makes sense to them because that's what they learn from their "official" education. On ther other hand, Asian cultural practices also speak to them because that is part of their family upbringing. Then what is the perfect blend of American-ness and Asian-ness we need to be seen as Asian American? This is a question we all are trying to answer.
Having enjoyed your post, I am curious in your personal struggle in finding your identity. Perhaps you can write another post on that if you are confortable discussing it? Overall, this is a well-written post with interesting questions, job well done!
Note: the last sentence in the first paragraph shouldn't end in a question form, should it?
The crux of this problem lies in this sentence: "Happiness is an universal emotion yet it is reached in different ways." Should we even use a 'universal' term to describe something that people access and experience in such widely varied ways? What would it mean to rethink and retool our idea of 'happiness'? I agree with Rick that you could definitely pursue this line of questioning in another post, if not in several.
This is a strong post, and it works very well to move from a movie to your own personal experiences, and then pose questions that expand to larger groups of people. In your first paragraph, your summary of the film should be in the present tense: "...the main character endureS great struggles and GOES from rags to riches... (etc.)"
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