I wonder how different I'd be if my parents hadn't grown up in a war-torn, communist country.
The experience hardened them. Growing up, their only choices were to do well in school and get a degree... or die. Not even an exaggeration. Men who didn't go to school had to become soldiers and women died in poverty. Obviously, going to school was the better option.
My parents are still living in that go-to-school-or-die frame of mind. It sucks because all my life, academics have been the only thing that they've actively pushed on me. Arts and other interests have always been put on the back burner. I begged for voice lessons and was never allowed to have them because they were deemed impractical.
I don't know what to do. I'm coasting along at an amazing educational institution with no real goal. At least, nothing that I am actually interested in pursuing, and I can't put everything aside and live like money is my only goal. I don't want to spend my life doing something I don't enjoy. So, if my parents had supported my other interests, would I be pursuing music right now? They've made me much too sensible and realistic for that. My mom doesn't think that being happy matters as long as I'm making enough money to support myself.
But it does matter. At least, it matters to me.
