Growing up, I had the typical creativity, imagination, and passion for the
world that any child had. I was a blank slate, enjoying everything that life
tossed at me. Looking at the sky imprinted onto this blank slate of mine,
engraving tiny notches and rivers into my shallow knowledge, marking their
place for passions to fill and grow deeper as the cliffs of my intelligence
rose with age. Only seeing the sky in its full glory during the day, due to
light pollution at night shielding most stars, my dance with the night
consisted of searching for the small, relatively static protrusions through the
velvety navy, violet, and orange to gaze at, and not much more. I had always
been interested in space from the little of it I learned in elementary school,
and by the time I had finally saw the milky way for the first time, its photons
imprinted themselves permanently into my passion. I was about ten at the time,
and as maturity grasped me, I lost my childlike imagination and passion. I was
finding myself, and the universe was the least of my worries, until high
school.
In junior year of high school, I had finally found the beauty in mathematics
and physics, how people have turned the complex laws of the world into
equations and functions that provide us data to describe the world. I had seen
nothing like it before, only conceptual explanations. I immersed myself in it.
I joined my school's physics club and math competitions. I studied it in my
free time and had large discussions with my equally obsessed physics teacher
about the world around us, which eventually led to space and physics on a
macroscopic scale. He introduced me to the world of telescopes and taught me
about relativity and the intrinsic connection that space and time have. His
flame of passion lighted mine, and I wish to pursue a career in space because
of it, maybe instilling my own passion in others, inspiring them to look above
and beyond our terrestrial world.
At this point, my mental canyons that were carved out by initial and elementary
imagination were filled and flowing. I want to be a part of the group of humans
that bring humanity off of this planet, to explore space and to share my fiery
passion with others when I can. I openly share my thoughts and my take on
life's meaning with anyone, since I am eager to delve into deep conversation
right off the bat. Each person is so unique, so different, and while I am
fairly shy, I make it a point to learn about as many people as I can to grasp a
view of the world different than my own, and perhaps add it to mine. I hope
that my own passion leaves a mark on them, and they are changed in even a
slightest bit. I do not necessarily want to be known for my passions, but I
would not mind my excitement to be remembered instead.
In my current position, I cannot do much about my pursuit of knowledge about
space as far as activities go, but I have taken up the hobby of taking long
exposure photos of the sky at night and plan star parties with my physics
teacher. I hope to delve more into stargazing and finding deep sky objects with
a personal telescope at dark sky preserves in the future, alongside others to
show them the rings of Saturn, the craters of the moon, or nebulae thousands of
light-years away.
My future goals all involve learning more about the unknown, but keeping in
mind the fact that I will never fully know everything, and for that, I
appreciate my ignorance. It allows for excitement and discovery, and creation
of love and passion. But for what I do know, I wish to pursue, knowing that I
will not do much in the scope of things, but realizing that if no one does them
for this reason, humanity will never make it off our Earth when we most need
it. As cynical as it sounds to say so, I think we will be required to leave
some day, but past my life time surely. I wish to help the exodus of humanity
into space, by researching and exploring with others or passing on my passion
to do so to others. Selflessness in its purity, to help others who will live
after my time, to make an impact on their lives for the good of them, while
enjoying the beauty of what I will see and find.