“Life is just a series of trying to make up your mind.” Making a choice means something is kept while something is eliminated. But as a great many development of the international community usher in a new world, which is, paradoxically, more culturally diverse AND globalized, I begin to wonder
if we must make a choice,
if things are only black and white,
if there’s a win-win coexistence of diversity rather than just the cruel “Survival-of-the-fittest” elimination that results in a world of monotonous unity.
My hometown is Dalian, and my university is in Shenyang. The changes that are taking place in both cosmopolitans are breathtaking. International conglomerates, BMW, G.E. are hiring the finest of the younger generation, while Starbucks, Haagen-Dazs, and McDonald’s are competing aggressively with local brands. As we immerse ourselves so happily in the international convenience, traditional brands and ways of life are withering in the jungle law of the commercial society. One lifestyle and another lifestyle does not always mean two lifestyles will simultaneously survive.
When foreigners come to China and see the same image of streets as in their own country, they feel more baffled than excited. YES, globalization brings international consumer goods and services, yet, such convenience shouldn’t be at the price of losing the Chinese ingredient in the recipe of global diversity. And when Starbucks opened a shop in the Forbidden City in Beijing, the emperor turned over in his grave.
It is, without a shadow of a doubt, the job of the younger generation to make sure things will only be better off for China and the world. With a leap of faith, I came to a decision half a year ago. So, I set my mind on overseas education. Such a decision was not to pursue a blind pilgrimage of Western culture, but to provide my self a new perspective, a catalyst for personal growth as I integrate wisdom and experience of both worlds to become truly international. As I celebrate Chinese culture with the rest of the world, one education AND one education trigger development that can’t be measured with a number, two.
The world is evolving. The only thing not changing is change itself. Yet however fast the world changes, the essence remains the same. It is our responsibility, NO, our obligation as young people, (which ever country we’re from,) to make sure that when worlds come together, our respective characteristics are kept while new traditions are formed in the process. Hand in hand, I’m more than confident that we CAN offer future generations a world of unprecedented harmony and diversity.