I met a Thai girl in Florida over the break. As I got to know her, I found that she had the most unlucky life I had ever known. She grew up in a family that did not give her love or warmth. Since her parents’ marriage was arranged, they did not love nor did they understand each other. They often argued which led to situations in which the little girl could not avoid seeing her father hit and abused her mother. She never experienced the meaning of love and warmth. Her duty in her house also kept her being a child. At the age of eight, she had to work at her family’s grocery store after school everyday. Her academic life almost ended when her father wanted her to leave school. He did not want her to study; he instead wanted her to work at their store full-time. She tried to flee that awful environment by studying hard, so she could leave home to study in a university. Finally, she received a scholarship to study at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. During the time I met her in Florida, she was thinking about telling her feelings to her parents hoping that she might be able to change their parents and solve the problems in the family. I suggested that she talk to them in the summer when she went home. She seemed to be hopeful and confident that she would have love and warmth in her family soon. After the break was over, however, she received a message requiring that she return to Thailand immediately. Her mother and sister had died in an accident. Suddenly, all her hopes were over.

What is love? Many people try to generalize the word, love, but the meanings of love are just too vast. Love comes in many terms. Selfless love is a kind of love that people want to experience because it releases them from suffering disappointments. People who experience selfless love never indulge themselves into a relationship. They always keep their distance. Innocent is a meaningful word that I usually use instead of the word selfless to define my love. It means harmless in effect or intention, naïve, or candid. Therefore, innocent love is one of many kinds of love that means to give or devote cares, concerns, sincere to one without hoping to get anything back. To love someone does not have to have passion or sexual desire. To love means that you will have cares and concerns for each other. When the person you love is far away, you will always think about him or her. Sometimes, people can not eat or sleep when they have not heard any news from their loved one. The devotion of innocent love is also strong and powerful. For example, a boy falls in love with a girl, but the girl has a boyfriend. The boy who has innocent love does not suffer from the disappointment of not having her; on the other hand, he is happy when his lover is happy even though he can not be with her. One of my best friends used to tell me, "Why do you have to wait for something from your girlfriend if you have innocent love? Just give her everything you want and feel happy when you see her happy."

The beautiful farm behind my house was the place I always went wandering around during gloaming times when was young. It was the most memorable place I have ever been. I usually went there to relax from studying and see different kinds of animals playing around with one another. Ducks and geese would float on the surface of the small transparent pond in search of fat fish. Colorful butterflies flew and teased one another while many of the beautiful flowers would dance along the rhythm of the cool wind. In the golden fields, the wind would spread throughout the field and caused the rice plants to rustle against one another. I would engulf myself to this world by first walking on the small dike and smelling the fresh air. My footsteps would frighten the birds that were eating grains in the field to fly away. As they rose in flight, many little dots appeared on the dim sky. The echo of the flock of crows in the twilight sky warned me to go home. However, the charm of the field would tempt me to stay longer. I projected my feelings to the farms as I shouted, "I love my farm…" The echoes of the sentence were always in my mind reminding me that I needed to keep and preserve my farm to be this way forever.

In the US, many groups of people are still classified by the colors of their skin. The majority of the people in the American society is white. The majority of the whites controls and governs all other groups. Africans and African-Americans are considered to be blacks. They live in the American society as a minority. Another minority group is the yellow. They are from Asia and include Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and so on. These three groups are only some of the groups that make up the American society. In many instances blacks have not yet got equality in society. Some clubs and organizations create illegally discrimination to another racial group. For example, in some hotels, they still have white-only dinners or parties that discriminate blacks and other skin colors. Sometimes blacks and other minorities are not given the same opportunity to receive high positions in some whites’ companies. In many instances they also receive lower wages than white workers. Yellows are also discriminated in some aspects, particularly in economic and business issues. They sometimes are not hired or allowed to work solely because of their skin color. Many problems with discrimination are still concern everywhere in the US. In the future, hopefully people will realize that everyone living in America is an American and not classify by their skin color.

The influences from my family and close friends caused me to decide to study engineering. My father was one of the influences. He, as a head master of a school, saw the importance of education, especially in the field of engineering. He always called me, "Professor Doctor Jess Wannasin, the best engineer." His supportive words encouraged me to learn more about engineering. When I was in high school, most of my friends were interested in engineering. This career was also popular among smart students and largely in demand in Thailand. My teachers also hoped that I would become an engineer. When I had to choose my future study, I was pressured from my father, teachers, and friends. They thought that I would definitely go to the best engineering college in Thailand, while I was not sure about what profession I wanted to enter yet. Finally, the pressures forced me to enter engineering. I decided to take an exam for a scholarship to study engineering in the USA. This scholarship confirmed that I was going to be an engineer, and possibly "Professor Doctor Jess Wannasin, the best engineer," as my father used to say.

Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwartzenager are famous and well-known to movies fans all over the world. Their characteristics in their movies create the stereotypes of heroes for everyone. Stallone and Schwartzenager both play in action movies but are portrayed in different way. Stallone is usually faced with serious problems and gets hurt more often. He seems to be more vulnerable than Schwartzenager. He has to face and solve problems in dangerous situations such as in Rambo, Cliffhanger, or Day Light. Unlike Stallone, Schwartzenager looks smarter and more powerful in his movies. He always acts as a police, FBI, or even a robot such as in Eraser and Terminator. Not only does he have action roles as a hero, but he also has many comedy movies such as Jingle All The Way, Junior, or even some parts in True Lie. By contrast, the roles that Stallone usually play in are always serious action movies. Although Stallone and Schwartzenager have different styles in their movies, they both are a representation of a hero for everyone.

Life is like a boat in a big ocean. The journey is big and hazardous. Sometimes the sky is clear, the waves are calm, and the sun is shining. Other times, the sky is cloudy, the wave is stormy, and the weather is bad. In life, you have both happiness and sadness just as you have sunny days and stormy days in the ocean. Sometimes, everything just works out, but other times you have troubles and cannot solve some of your problems. In the ocean and life, you can control yourself to go any way you want. However, it is not easy to see the right way. You have to be conscious and careful on your journey. As a rower, you need to know the way you are going and how to solve instant problems you need to cope with. When the water is too shallow, you need to know and turn the boat to the other way. When you see a storm in front of you, you have choices to face the storm or avoid it. In comparison, you can not just let your life go; you instead have to have your plan and know how to solve problems because there are many dangers and obstacles in your life. In order to control your life to be successful you should be a good boat rower and be able to control your ship.