Romir Swar Week 6: I'm Hungry
“I’m hungry.”
A line I probably (definitely) say too many times a day, and maybe even more times than I open the fridge.
Luckily, however, I’m American, and live in Fremont, California (okay duh).
“What does this have to do with anything?” says you.
“Well,” says I (Heimler reference), “we have been so blessed to be born into a country, state, and even city that offers so many opportunities.”
Now, while I was half-joking, I wouldn’t be lying if I said I can go out—practically within a 30-minute drive in any direction—and eat basically any cuisine the world offers. This is such an insane reality that we take for granted; we do not realize that our environment provides us with such a luxury.
But my main perspective is not coming from my never-ending quest for the perfect burger (surprise ikr). Instead, it springs from the one that ponders on what I am going to be in the future, or the question I feel most of us dread: “What are you going to major in?”
I HATE IT!
But I don’t think it’s fair of me to view this question as a curse rather than a blessing.
Speaking to my parents about this, they narrated to me how they only had two options: becoming a doctor or becoming an engineer. They both chose the latter. Naturally, I despise Computer Science (CS) and although I have not decided what I will specialize in, I have vowed it won’t be CS. But I digress. My point is that America—with all its problems, issues, and areas of improvement—is an amazing country, and serves as a platform for literally anything. Our dilemma isn't doctor or engineer; it’s doctor or engineer or pilot or astronaut or biotechnician or the next Wolf or literally whatever our hearts desire.
We are enabled to do anything. We are able to go out and eat not out of preference, but out of choice (I normally choose In-n-Out lol).
Romir, I really enjoyed reading this blog that has tied such contrasting ideas together. At the start, it was unclear how you were going to tie the various opportunities to go out and get food to the topic of America as a whole. I originally thought your blog was going to be about the diversity of culture in America as represented by food. However, your transition into jobs and career opportunities was extremely well done and well exemplified by your hook. I think the question of “what are you going to major in” is one that haunts us all. For myself, part of it is that I am very indecisive but that stems from the fact that there are so many options to choose from. Both of my parents are also engineers so there was very little that I was exposed to as a kid. The only thing I knew was that I was not going to be an engineer. As I started to discover new careers, it amazed me that there were so many more opportunities than what I knew was possible. It is a problem that we are all blessed to deal with. Thank you for reminding all of us about the incredible number of choices we have from being in this country and I will have to agree with you that In-N-Out is normally the best choice.
ReplyDeleteFirst thing that I must address that is not necessary at all but I think is cool--you with the little In-N-Out sailor cap thing, I did not know they had those, but thank you for this wisdom. Moving on, I really resonated with this blog post, mainly because the latter half of my summer consisted of very literally, journeying around and “discovering” new restaurants (my godbrother is a chef and he knew a lot of good places). I really feel like we (or at least me in particular) need reminders of how much that is a luxury, because especially growing up here, it feels like the norm. Also, hating the “What are you going to major in” question is very relatable, although for me I feel like it is in a different way. I have had the privilege of knowing what I’ve wanted to do with my life since I was really young, and of course many people (including my parents) tried to steer me towards other careers, but I have pretty much remained immovable for better or worse. But even with that, I do grapple with that prison of “choosing” because as you said, “we are enabled to do anything,” so how could we just be one thing?
ReplyDeleteFirst, I’ll acknowledge the main point of this post—when I went to India this past summer, every single one of my relatives was eagerly waiting for me to reveal which line I’d gone into. A “line,” in India, is a specific pathway every teenager must decide on before their junior year of high school—for example, medical, engineering, and humanities are all “lines.” There, there’s no flexibility of choosing specific majors. Needless to say, I left all my relatives disappointed with a long, complicated answer trying to explain the entirety of the American education system (which is ridiculously difficult, thank you) as well as the shorter, more final answer of “I don’t know.”
ReplyDeleteNow for the real star of the show—food. In-N-Out holds a special place in my heart: not from the less-than-spectacular selection of options (I still haven’t figured out the whole “secret menu” thing yet) or the honestly kind of underwhelming burgers, but from the memories I’ve made at that one place right by AMC. I’ve gone there after emotional rollercoasters of seniors’ final competitions, football games, hangouts at peoples’ houses, and in the aftermath of serious drama. As I donned the silly white hat they give you, I’ve spent some of the best hours of my life laughing away with my friends in the night, with not a single other care in the world.
I’ve seen a lot of people who were teenagers in the 2010s come out and lament the state of high school youth today—not because of online brainrot (like how boomers tend to complain about us), but because we just don’t spend time with each other anymore. “Our prime social building years were spent locked up in a house only talking to people through cameras,” writes one user on TikTok, accurately pointing out how more and more young people just go home after school to do work, scroll on their phone, and sleep. Gone are the wild days of hanging out at parking lots, going to the movies on a whim, and experiencing the thrill of youth.
While there are probably dozens of factors playing into this sort of generational depression (the COVID-19 pandemic being an example), I think a lot of it does have to do with academic pressure. School is hailed as your one-way ticket to college, which is hailed as your one-way ticket to a job, which is hailed as your one-way ticket to retiring comfortably, which is hailed as your one-way ticket to…you know. Despite all the progress we’ve made in the short few millennia we’ve lived on this planet, we’ve come full circle: we have innovated to the point of having to live in survival mode again. No matter what, living life only has one purpose: to do the bare minimum of sustenance and hope you die without too many worries or regrets.
This took a pretty dark turn, but nevertheless, as youths, we don’t know how to truly let go anymore, not when the world of college admissions and social pressure from a million different angles are constantly nagging at us everywhere we look. Perhaps letting go with a therapeutic trip to a fast food joint may help a little.