The Like-Minded

It is another sunny evening in Southern California and I decided to spend the evening at an old friend's birthday.  I arrived at the party at 6 PM and I was not the first to do so; there were a few guys playing ping-pong in the backyard and as I walked in the house, I encountered new faces that I have never met before and like any strangers in this similar situation, I introduced myself to them.  I met a person who is an aspiring surgeon, a PhD chemistry student, and an ambitious business young woman.  Then we gathered around the kitchen table to sing  happy birthday to my friend and started the feast.  I decided to sit on the futon in the guest room and next to me sat a girl whom I have never met before. She asked me what was the yellow vegetable I was eating on my plate and I told her that it was a bell pepper.  For privacy purposes, let's call her Jennifer.

We introduced ourselves and that started our conversation from there.  She is a 21-year-old college student in a nearby university and her plan is to open a business in the future.  Anyone could have tell she is smart and that she knows what she wants out of life just by seeing how she carries herself and how she communicates.  She said she was the president of two organizations in high school and was very much academically oriented back then and still now. I asked her why she did not plan to go to medical school and she stated confidently that she does not believe in synthetic medication as a way to heal the body. Smart. Check. Knowing how to think for herself. Check. Confident. Check. Well-round. Check.  Ambitious. Check.

Jennifer was the epitome of my college self and I would do anything back then to become just like her.  Though I am older than her, we are very much similar in the way we think.  She and I believe that school does not teach students how to think for themselves and the only way to learn how is to get out in the real world as the teachers already think for the students by giving them assignments and deadlines; basically everything is set up so the students do not have to think for themselves.  In addition, she believes networking is the key to success.  We have so much in common that for the first time in a long time, I finally do not feel like a lone person in this world who has my values.  I understand her and she understands me.  It's like I found my other missing puzzle piece in a sea of humans.

Sometimes, when we least expected, we will run into someone in life who will assure us that we are normal and that our beliefs are rather prevalent and similar to them.  We feel like a normal human being and knowing that someone understands us and we understand them only enrich our lives.  It strengthens our core beliefs to know someone supports what we believe in and it helps us to see our own ideas from a different perspective.  They give identity to our values and our beliefs become more tangible and more clearer to us and as a result we are more likely to achieve whatever goals we have.  These people are the catalysts to our success as they validate our beliefs. So we have to get out in the world and see what is out there because any occurrence can be the one that we need to transform us into a more confident and assured person.