Potential to Contribute

¶ … talent, experience, contribution or personal quality you will bring to the University of California. Close your eyes and create a picture in your mind -- if it is possible to picture silence in the form of an image. Or turn off your radio, your television, and listen to the silence and stillness around you, a silence that echoes -- like the silence in a concert hall before a performance.

A young girl, clutching an instrument, an ancient instrument from the history of the Thai people stands trembling in such a silence. She is only six years old, but she feels ancient. Six years old is ancient to the mind of a child who can only recall being five or four, and the demands for perfection she places upon her own shoulders are heavy, far heavier than the instrument she carries itself.

Indeed, as her parents reminded her just before she left her home, she stands face-to-face with the second princess of Thailand, the youngest performer to be given such an honor on behalf of the Thai people. That child was myself, living in Thailand, many years ago. It a world I remember well -- as well as I remember that performance that day.

Although I feel the intense pride in my memory, of performing for the Thai royal family and being able to play a difficult Thai classical instrument flawlessly, there is a part of me that regrets I did not have the experience when I was older, when I could appreciate the honor more, with older eyes and a more mature heart. Pride in perfection, hard work and dedication, even musical accomplishments on unusual interests -- these might seem like common characteristics of applicants.

I am sure college applicants in abundance can be found for the university who manifest all of these traits. But maturity is the ultimate gift I believe I could bestow upon my student colleagues, should I receive the honor of being accepted to the university of my choice.