State of Stubbornness

Allow me to clear things first, the reason why there is no single posting at all last month is mainly because I got occupied with several works to find an internship position and some paper works. In order to make things more relevant, I will start off by explaining a brief story behind the reason I am writing this note. So I was supposed to undergo an abroad internship program in sixth semester during my whole study period and that takes place in a country which is located in the heart of Europe, Germany. The internship starts from February 2009 and it lasts for a period of at least one semester. Prior to my departure to Germany, I was registered as an intern in an internationally well-known German car manufacturing company; paper works are at the ready at that time and things seemed to go smoothly. But then things went completely wrong, due to world crisis and financial difficulties, I was dropped off from the company for a reason of company efficiency and budget tightening. I automatically became unemployed and since I have no back-up another company, I would have to start from scratch again: find another new job in the middle of financial crisis. Headlines in local newspapers got worse day by day, particularly articles which are related to financial and economic matters. However, after obtaining an official announcement about my internship cancellation, I have become more challenged to apply in companies which specialize in manufacturing or developing car components. This is presumably a ridiculous idea to be listened since how a company which produces car components could possibly offer an internship opportunity; meanwhile the car industry is suffering from a severe financial difficulty. However, there are always reasons behind these actions and it will be explained in this note.

Quite frankly, I wasn’t uninformed regarding the era of global economic collapse, the information has been a part of my concern about one year ago when a buddy of mine mention that his boss sensed a slow down of sales growth in the company where he worked, this was however just a hunch which comes into a reality today. In Germany, some major companies respond the financial crisis by reducing their employers, salaries and incentives cut-offs, or even by closing the whole work plant. Short after being rejected, several colleagues of mine and my kind parents remind me not to rely very much on automotive industry, in this case of course an opportunity to obtain an internship position. However, there is a sense of hope that despite this hard situation, the show must still go on, which means people on the car industry might have created a scheme of budget cut off and yet presumably, it is nearly impossible that all works in the company are terminated until unlimited period. And so, not in dread of any possible upcoming negative responses, I still post my application to several companies which are related to automobile industry. Some say that this is an act of complete stubbornness; meanwhile I perceive it with an approach to principal of persistence and consistency. My very first reaction to this different perspective was completely amusing, in a natural and positive way of course, that it reminds me how a minute detail of action could illicit such a contradictory point of view. Evidently, I therefore should allocate some minutes of my live explaining people why I seemed to be so reluctant to listen to them and I start it with a very simple comment: persistence is stubbornness with good purposes. They were obviously baffled by this odd-sounding response; maybe I could have been looked like Paris Hilton explaining Einstein’s theory of relativity. I find it absolutely normal because I don’t have to redefine what is the proper action I need to take in order to make things right, that is the fact that I will hopefully get another job soon.

"Persistence is stubbornness with good purposes."

Firstly and in a nonchalant manner, I just want to make sure that those who comically referred me as a stubborn man have gain my attention and I just point out that there is a clear difference between being stubborn and consistent. Moreover, people act differently between stubborn and consistent people. I would refer stubbornness as an act of disobedience and rebellious reluctance, which is why my thoughtful friends referred me that way. Basically, I would refer someone as a stubborn if they refuse to listen to positive advices; meanwhile the negative outcome is plain to see. For instance, if I advice someone not to walk in the middle of heavy rain in order to prevent him from catching flu and yet, he still blithely breaches into the rain and eventually catches flu, he would definitely be the stubborn one. Meanwhile, both consistency and persistence show a sense of genuineness on how you stay focused on your target, it demonstrates a sheer determination in achieving your own goals, in such way that you would keep improving and developing step by step. In my case, the world of automobile has always drawn my attention ever since I was a child and even up until today, the interest remains the same and I think it grows even bigger. Over the last four years, I have tried to keep myself involved in the automobile industry because it is the world where in the future I want to be. If it is by any chance possible, I would always attempt to improve in every step until I could at least master one study branch which is related to my interest. I don’t have any idea whether I could refer this as a proper act of consistency, but I just happened to know where I am pointing myself at, because it would be tragically devastating for me if I just throw those many years of not-least efforts away for nothing.

At the end of the day, it still feels very nice to have people call me as a stubborn person, because such thought has never crossed my mind, not more than five or six times actually. Honestly, this is just a preposterous and trivial inspiration, but I believe that we are all stubborn by nature and self-denial as a root of stubbornness is never being a subject in the school, yet we use it sometimes to protect ourselves. I couldn’t believe that I am actually writing such a risky sentence, but then I realize that I am being denial. I do hope that everyone around me will understand this odd opinion and if they don’t, it is essentially fine by me. Because the last thing I could possibly do to make them on board with my perspective is to prove myself to them, that means I would have to work extra harder to keep my words in this note. Big bet requires big efforts. Until then, enjoy!