I believe in the human potential to overcome extreme adversity to accomplish their goals. Certain people and events have the capacity to transform our outlook on life. Sometimes they rearrange what we thought we already knew or even place doubt in our minds. I believe that living in the United States today, every individual has the opportunity to shine on their own stage.

Think about it. When the police shot dead an African American teenager, regardless of the cause of the incident, the first thing that pops into our heads is anger. Some of us stay home and continue our daily lives, some of us write up signs that scream “equality”, some of us pick up gasoline and set the world on fire. Yet most of us do not even know that a chemical attack struck a town in Syria today killing 70 people with the death toll rising. It did not matter how old they were, where they were from, what color their skin was, those people died.

We protest against the injustices imposed on ourselves, but we do not do much when it comes to other people, needless to say people on the other end of the planet. Having lived in China my whole life, it was hard for me to hear people say “I can’t accomplish my goal because of my skin color” or “I can’t achieve what I want to achieve because I’m not old enough” or “I can’t take this job because it doesn’t pay enough”. The “I can’t” statements come from within us; it is not the world’s fault that we cannot complete a task, but it starts with our mindset of where we are in life and how we want to face the road ahead.

I worked in a Subway Sandwich restaurant in China during my junior year of high school. I made an equivalent of $2/hour. At the same time, I heard people protesting to raise the minimum wage in Washington and California to $15/hour. I kept on with the job knowing that it was great work experience that would train my work ethic. It is just as important knowing what you want to do, as it is knowing what you don’t want to do.

We live in the United States of America; there is a reason why people in the past and present risk their lives to make it here. History has shown that the human potential is immense. What comes down to it is our mindset. A speaker at our church said, “instead of hitting the streets, hit your knees”. I am not here to preach religion, but prayer and meditation is just a different means to an end. Before we decide to make up excuses about our gender, skin color, age, or sexuality, allow yourself to dig deep and realize the immense potential within yourself and know that you are able to overcome extreme adversity to achieve our goals.