Nt1310 Unit 2 Assignment 1

This week in my HUMI 1 class, the one topic that we discussed in class that captured my attention was the state of being Naiveté. Although being naive is often looked down upon, it can also be something that you require in order to achieve your goals. When looking into the topic of Naiveté, the first person that I went to was my father. He was a refugee after the Vietnam war in 1975. Vietnam, even to this day, is not a place that many would want to live in. According to my father, during his time there, it was a filthy place to live and everyone there would often get sick. People were forced to work to exhaustion and starvation and diseases were the main causes of death. While all of this was occurring, he and his friends would often talk about

fleeing the country and moving over to America where it is the land of the free. He would dream of having a stable career of doing what he loved and starting a family of his own in America. However, escaping Vietnam would be a difficult task, but by continuously believing in the possibility, my father and a few of his friends were able to do so. However, it wasn’t just luck that allowed him to escape, but the timing as well. Most people that attempted to flee Vietnam were caught, however my father and a few other lucky people were able to board a boat and travel to Malaysia for a refugee camp successfully without getting caught. Had they gone at a different time during the day, they most likely would have been caught. Both luck and good timing factored into the successful escape for my father and other refugees. From then on, my father pursued what he said he would; learning the English language, becoming a computer engineer, starting his own family, and so much more. No matter how difficult times got for him, he pushed through and continued to believe in himself. Most would call him naive for pursuing such impossible goals, but he was persistent and accomplished what he wanted. Not just my father, but a close friend of mine as well had a dream that seemed impossible to achieve. Earlier this week, I had spoken to my friend who is currently in high school. She was just recently notified of being one of the top competitive swimmers in the state. She is currently one of the top competitive swimmers in the state and looking to go professional. However, before all this occurred, it began as a dream which seemed impossible. Growing up, she always swam for fun, never competitively, and was not the best at it either. It was up until high school in which she began to swim competitively. When she first started, she was probably one of the slowest on the team. She was embarrassed by that, and worked hard to be one of the best on the team. By working hard and practicing endlessly, she was able to achieve that goal of hers. During that process, she discovered how much she loved swimming and believed that she could make it into the professional world. Her teammates and coaches supported her of course, however her family did not. They would often bring up how difficult it was to make it professionally in the athletic world. Not only that, but they would always bring up the fact that there were millions of other kids in the world with the same dream as her. Her parents would continuously tell her how they have been around longer than her and know how the world works. She was told that she was being naive for having such a childish fantasy and was better off studying hard and getting a stable job. However, my friend ignored her parents remarks and continued to practice swimming. Her parents words did nothing but motivate her to prove them wrong. Coincidently, during one of her swim meets, a college scout noticed how well she performed and later offered her a full ride scholarship for competitive swimming. As soon as she found about that, she was driven to continue swimming at her fullest potential. With that in process, she was able to win the state finals in competitive swimming and was recently notified about being one of the top swimmers in the state. By continuously believing in herself, she was able to become one of the best swimmers in the state and with perfect timing, a college scout noticed her during a swim meet, offering her a full ride scholarship.

Had she listened to her parents words and focused more on her studies, none of this would have happened. I would also like to mention how I am currently pursuing a career of becoming a well known video producer. My parents are supportive of my decision, however they often tell me how it is difficult to make it big in the media world as there is a lot of competition. Though they don’t directly say it to me, I can tell that my parents believe that I am guileless. Regardless of what they say, I continue to put effort in my videos and creativity. I was never one to study topics such as math and English very well. Working with cameras and video editing programs were what I excelled best at and I believed that if it’s what I enjoy doing and hope to pursue in the future, then I should go ahead and try to make a career out of it as well. During this week, I had just uploaded a video edit that I put a lot of time and effort into up onto YouTube a couple of nights ago and got quite a bit of attention on the video. Surprisingly, I was contacted by a big name company, asking if they could use my video and would give me

credit. I would have never expected for that to happen, but the fact that a large company noticed my video motivates me to continue to pursue what I love doing. By being a naive child who continued to pursue my goals, I was able to not only show my parents that I have the capability of going far with my career path, but also getting contacted by a well known company, which indicates that if I continue to put effort into what I do, I will be able to achieve anything. My naiveté will allow me to continue believing in what I do, regardless of what others say or think about me. Even though being naive is commonly looked at as a negative, it can also be something positive as well. Perhaps naiveté is what you need in order to obtain what you desire. With good timing and persistence, I truly believe you can achieve what you strive for.