Youth / OPINION : The Key Is ‘to Meet Challenges Head On’

How do people meet challenges and what can be learned from them? The answer depends, to a large degree, on one’s attitude. By far the greatest challenge of my life has been adapting to American society, an experience that has not only dramatically changed my attitude but noticeably improved my character as well.

In 1992, I came to the United States from Korea. Because Korea and the U.S. differ so immensely, it is impossible to describe all of the nuances and peculiarities that distinguish the two nations. To me, America seemed strange, chaotic and overwhelming. I had a difficult time adjusting.

Ironically, language was my biggest problem. In Korea, I had studied English grammar, sentence structure, composition and vocabulary. I therefore didn’t anticipate that language would be a handicap, but it was. While four years of schooling enabled me to critically read Ernest Hemingway’s “Old Man and the Sea,” I was in no way prepared to discern the deluge of idioms, slang and accents so habitually used in everyday conversation. Americans have customized their speech so much that the dialect’s variances with standard English are confounding.

At any rate, I couldn’t fully interact in my new surroundings, so I felt disabled--like a writer who had lost his drafting hand. I made few new friends and became increasingly isolated. I never thought coming to America would be so disappointing. I eventually came to regret having moved to America and blamed my parents for my unwarranted suffering. But faulting others in no way made my situation less grievous or more tolerable.

One day, I explained my predicament to a friend who had migrated here from Korea about four years earlier. He advised me to change my attitude and to think positively. He said that I could learn the most from my painful experiences. Instead of recoiling from my tribulations, he recommended that I meet these challenges head on.

I skeptically accepted his advice and started listening very carefully to television, in order to understand the idiomatic content of the language used in conversations. I then practiced speaking with Americans to improve my articulation. Although this process was tedious and frustrating at times, it did eventually prove to be rewarding. I overcame many of the past hardships. I began to enjoy life a lot more. Communication helped me replace my groundless animosities with an appreciation for social cultures. I’m now even considering social science as an academic college major.

There may be no academic way to measure what I learned from this experience. Nevertheless, I am confident that no matter what challenges await my future, the lessons learned from my first few months in America will remain guiding principles for the rest of my life.