college essay ZT

http://groups.wenxuecity.com/discussion.php?gid=1199&pid=225799“My Father and ISince I live on Long Island, car trips into Flushing or New Jersey will often entail the questionable pleasures of sitting through New York’s rush-hour traffic. On one such excursion, several years ago, only my father and I were in the car, and we were once again settling into the usual bustle of honking horns and idling engines. My dad, the one at the wheel, heaved a sigh of exasperation and looked resignedly at the endless pile of cars ahead.“Just look at this traffic...” he muttered.Yes, congestion was particularly bad that day, so I didn’t blame him. But he continued on, offering, “...you know, it’s really similar to a propagating wave.” One can imagine the look of incredulity that momentarily overtook my face. But immediately then, a spark of interest ignited the engine within me, and I bit. The two of us then actually began conversing about the mathematical and scientific aspects of traffic jams. We ended up perpetuating a half-hour-long discussion across such topics as human reaction times, the mechanics of braking, and the idea of mapping vehicle movement patterns. Our exchange turned ridiculous at times, but it was a welcome diversion from the monotony of the gridlock around us.It is an odd little episode, certainly, but as I reflect on it, I am compelled to realize how profoundly my father has helped to shape the way I see the world. His story—coming to America with hopes of higher learning and humble roots in a foreign land—is now the stuff of cliché, but all the same, it is genuinely clear to me that he has always placed a high value on education. With his academic enthusiasm for math and physics, I acknowledge that his academics have been, in part, instrumental in shaping my left-brain passions. He has especially supported certain qualities to which I aspire—analysis and curiosity. Dialogues like the car exchange are not uncommon between us. Whether he intends to or not, he always challenges me to ponder things with both qualities in mind.But I certainly don’t strive to merely emulate him. We do more than a little heated disagreeing—natural, perhaps, given our different environments. As a result, however, I have sought to guide myself by an independent spirit of thought—be it in academic, artistic, or musical pursuits. As a father, he has, of course, played the role of the parent. But he has been something more than that. While I am already striving to chart my own course, the time that I have spent with him has been intellectually cathartic and revealing of the path before me.”