FYS 10101
29 Nov 2021
Integration Two
	Coming from an asian family, I was often taught there was a preset road of success. Get good grades in high school. Go to a good college. Participate in clubs and research activities. Gain a job with a high salary. Marry and have kids. Die peacefully. Whether I become a biochemist or an accountant, this was the tested and proven road to a happy life. Getting off this Success St. meant stumbling blindly towards an untested path. As most people would, I chose to walk on the crash-proof road instead of the bumpy road beside me. However, with the learnings I gained from Moreau, I decided I will no longer make social media my hobby, but instead make it a potential career. After all, there had to be someone who tested the road first to ensure its safety. 
	Growing interests in the metaverse makes it no longer a technology in the near future, but a current issue. Metaverse is formed from a combination of “meta”, meaning transcendent, and “verse”, from universe. It is used to describe a never-ending virtual environment that provides similar elements to our real world: trading cryptocurrencies, providing interoperability of platforms and services, and easy access in entry of both people and ideas. It is a place where individuals can share their ideas and create varieties of content for other users. Companies like Meta Platforms, Apple Inc., and Tesla jumping into this field, this hints towards a promising field of investment. 
	I did not merely list facts to detail what technologies are coming into this field. When the TikTok rose to its popularity in 2018, I saw this as a possible career. Creators could easily create content on their own, with large amounts of viewers waiting to see these said contents. Entry was easy compared to other sources of media such as Instagram and Youtube, and trends could be easily established to gain popularity. While I was confident I could lead a successful life through this platform, my status as a student restricted me from preventing me from exploring further. Looking back, it was not my student status that prevented me from exploring further into this field, but I was suffering from internal dissonance. I restricted myself from interacting in any commercial activities, because I believed students should not earn money, but should study in order to ride on board on Success St. Julia Hogan states “The common thread in all of these examples is that these individuals believe they must be perfect and that they must live up to the expectations of others (and themselves).” (“Why Letting Go of Expectations is a Freeing Habit” by Julia Hogan - Moreau FYE Week Nine) I will no longer think of myself as a student or a college student, but think myself as an individual who can live to success through other means than simply studying. With this understanding I gained from Moreau, I will no longer limit myself and lose that key opportunity, and take a leap of faith at the chance once I see it. 
	Gaining a career in social media will provide difficulties, but one of these is the people themselves. It is impossible to create content to satisfy everyone, meaning some people will exhibit negative opinions towards my actions. This is where I must bring up an example of my high school years. As the lead officer for the school Math Team, I wanted to change policies that prohibited me from exploring higher levels of mathematics. Every month, 20 members were selected to participate in a statewide competition. The selection process for this competition was extremely biased, allowing officers to participate in competitions regardless of the efforts they put into the organization. While other members of the organization took tests to place in the roster, some officers didn’t take tests but made it into the competition. To fix this issue, I attempted to force officers into testing for the roster as all other individuals do. Although this decision was accepted by all members, disputes began to happen when I removed an officer from the competition roster due to their lack of engagement. Although I gave repeated warnings to the above stated officer, they refused to accept this fact. This behavior lines up with one of the quotes given in the Moreau exercises: “Conviction, however, is not all good. It can easily be corrupted by pride and greed and lead to hatred and division.” (“Wesley Theological Seminary Commencement” - Moreau FYE Week Ten) The officers' pride prevented themselves from accepting the decision. As I learned in Moreau, we humans are born with more negatives than positives; humans are very fragile beings. I must ensure that my opinions and emotions are not swayed by pride and greed in the future when delving into a pool of dangerous viewers. 
	Putting the learnings regarding my career path aside, I want to put the focus on what I learned in Moreau and integrate those into my experience at University of Notre Dame. I come from Hawaii, a state composed of 36.9% Asian people and 1.9% Black or African American. Most of my life has been populated with Asian communities, as I lived in South Korea, Japan, and China. I have seen various communities have dialects that I have difficulty understanding. I was afraid that not understanding these dialects would often make conversations come to a stop, so I avoided making communities with these groups. I continued to converse with communities I know and had experience with. This behavior continued until I came across Week 11’s quotes: “And finally, if we’re really serious about trying to make the world a better place, then diversity matters for all of us.” (“Diversity Matters” by Agustin Fuentes - Moreau FYE Week Eleven). Although I had no interest in making the world a better place, I was alarmed again that to have a successful career life, I had to take in diversity and dive into other cultures to expand my understanding. Thus, I started to take my steps forward and involve myself in other cultural clubs.
	As I begin to come closer to the ending of this semester’s worth of Moreau, I can say with confidence that I discovered many facts about myself that I would have otherwise neglected. Actions such as opening myself up to vulnerability and identifying influences in my core beliefs are some things that I would have never explored without Moreau. These questions I ponder about myself help develop a better image of myself, and show in what ways I should improve. I can grow and live in hope by constantly asking myself questions. What do I prefer? How many hours can I live in? What is the minimum cost I need to survive 30 days? These questions I ask myself will keep my everyday life fun to live within, and give me hope in a fashion of joy. The actions that teacher took and the actions I took made me realize that I have a mild interest in teaching. “Those who are too vigilant are unaware that a great talent of a good teacher is often to pretend not to notice what he or she does not want to be obliged to punish.”(“Hope - Holy Cross and Christian Education” - Moreau FYE Week Twelve).