From my world to yours

The person I interviewed name is Chibuzo Melisizwe which means in African dialect 'God is the leader', his parents moved over to the US to escape poverty and to give their children the opportunity to live the way they wished they could have lived. He told me with all that his parents did so he can live comfortably, failure to reach his goals in life is not an option, he also said his only sibling, his baby brother, lives by the same values. I must admit, as I interviewed him I began to really question my work ethic because it is defiantly tough coming to a new country from another, but lets throw in the equation the pursuit of education, a legitimate social life, religion or just plain old happiness. I compare this situation to professional sports because ironically enough we think that international students can adjust to a new cultural effortlessly with out problems, hard work, and practice just how we think a professional athlete can make play effortless without having problems, without putting in hard work, and practice.He does not know what it is like to have cable or three square meals a day despite he is a 3.8 GPA. Chibuzo is a pre-med student at Saint Louis University. Chibuzo said where he comes from the life he lives here in America is no where near possible in fact if you are not born into royalty or money you are not suppose to think about living a life of a wealthy person. Chibuzo added, "in America people have the world at their hands and don't even acknowledge their opportunities because they are to busy complaining about what they don't have. Where I am from we don't even have clean water to drink, that should tell you how much I appreciate and realize my blessings". At this moment in this so called interview I began to feel a cringe in my stomach like I found just found our some terrible news, the reason I don't feel like this was an interview is because it seemed like it was a deep conversation rather than asking vague questions to pry out generic answers. I asked Chibuzo if he will ever go back to his birth place and he replied yes emphatically, saying with passion to know where you are going you have to know where you have been, he felt if he abandons his heritage he is abandoning his identity. What really had me in a twist was the fact that I was completely shocked of his story in a good way. Who would have ever known that jolly Chibuzo has a inspirational story like that and it only makes one wonder more about others. What I mean by that is we walk past people everyday without caring, knowing, or even a little curious about others upbringing, interviewing Chibuzo made me feel like I wanted to know more about everyone. We finished the interview with a firm hand shake and hug, and I humbly thanked him for his time to get a better insight in intercultural students and life.