Prompt #2 The Roles We Play

 Prompt #2: The Roles We Play 

Coming from an Indian household with my parents being immigrants, there has always been this subtle pressure of needing to succeed in every avenue of life. It definitely isn’t like this for all first generation Indian high schoolers, but the pressure to maintain a high GPA, do tons of extracurriculars, get into a hyper-selective college, find a day job with a prestigious sounding title that would impress the people back home and make 6 figures until you aren’t able to function is never ending. This is the role many of us are expected to play at Troy High and it undoubtedly leads to constant comparisons and no room for uniqueness or personality. Even people that I know who have graduated years ago have told me that high school is definitely not the best place for your mental health. 

My parents, like many others, worked insanely hard to get to America— having to enter a country where they aren’t looked at the same, where they don’t know the primary language, and where they have to build their careers from the ground up because there weren’t any shortcuts. I was taught that hard work would get you what you wanted, and all you have to do is put your best effort. 100% of the time. All to chase a mirage of the 21st century American Dream. I have yet to challenge this role by doing something unorthodox, in fear that I will inevitably miss my chance of catching this dream. But maybe this dream doesn’t have to be as cookie-cutter as what I’ve heard about my entire life. Maybe it means enriching myself in the various cultures of the world and learning until my brain is sickeningly full of the brightest memories. Eventually, when I find what dream I would like to pursue, I will make sure that my ‘role’ is finally unique to only myself.