The Myth of the Cave?

Why do scholarship awarders decide the winners based on essays? What if one is deserving of the scholarship but just cannot express it beautifully in words? Is that it? They just lose to others because of that? I just finished the first of my three essays that I have to write for my scholarship application and I just couldn't help asking those questions as I write my essay. The first essay topic is the typical "Write your academic and intellectual goals and interests". How I wish I can just scribble there "I donno" instead of twisting it around and carefully expounding how I am exploring the different fields, thus I am uncertain but I have shortlisted the fields. LOL. Two more to go and whoopeee I am done.

As for my day, I woke up this morning feeling rather unhappy and tired. It just seemed like it was just one of those bad days. But then again, we always have a choice. JS sent me a very empowering powerpoint slides show which I open every time when I am down to remind me that in every single circumstance, after we remove all the junk surrounding it, we have two choices, to choose to live our lives happily or to live our lives miserably. Although I was not too motivated by it this morning, at least it lifted me up a little. When I walked to class, I looked up at the sky, sighed, and just wished that the weather would be warmer. Then, I remembered the powerpoint slides and I thought "There will always be something to complain about no matter what condition I am in". It also hit me that people who are never exposed to somewhere better will not complain how bad their place is. That reminded me of Plato's "Myth of the Cave". It seems clear now that the reason I couldn't stand the cold was because I was attached to warm and nice weather. If I could just accept the weather as it is, things would certainly be different. And of course, we always have a choice - to enjoy the weather or to let it wear you down. That put a smile on my face and I felt grateful that it was sunny although it was cold. =)