Rahkan

What an interesting mix of hippyism and condescension. How do you reconcile the two in your own mind? All I wanted to do was stick up for someone who was being given a raw deal by this board, and point out some of her virtues. But you had to turn it into a ruler contest. It doesn't matter whether I got a Fulbright, Mr. Harvard. I suspect that if this is the way you act, your Fulbright will be the last success you have in life. Someday your egomania will come back to bite you. And when that happens, you know what? I'm not gonna give a damn. I'll have forgotten about this, and I'll be off living my life, doing my work. Maybe your narcissistic personality requires you to desperately seek external validation, but I hope to God that someday you learn that true validation comes from within. Any person who'd write the sort of messages you have must have desperately low self-esteem.

Are you honestly suggesting that a word here or there on the internet, in a tiny little specialized forum is going to do more harm than the immense damage you've already done? People come here looking for guidance and support. I've tried to provide that. But you've done nothing but belittle good, honest, hard-working people. And I get why that's necessary for you. You've already got your Fulbright. And my posting put a little seed of doubt in you. It put some shame in there. You didn't do everything you could. You just coasted through. And you got it, sure. Now you're worried about whether it was just luck or connections or whatever. So you feel the need to cut down every person out there who even dares to imply that there is something in life more important than getting this award. Because you don't want to think about that, do you? You'll do your best never to think about it. You'll just hopscotch from trophy to trophy until you die. Because, for you, it's not about accomplishment, it's about being accomplished. But I'm here to tell you something. I know you're smart. Hell, I know you're fucking brilliant. You're one of the few people on this message board who can spell and use a comma properly, for one thing. You don't need to be this petty and vindictive. Hell, you don't need to be this afraid. Stop trying to tear other people down. Focus on your work, whatever that is. Focus on what you actually have. I know you can still be saved, and I'll pray for that.

What and it wasn't inconsiderate to use the plight of people with physical deformities to score cheap points off the person you've already spent the last hour savaging? You are such a hypocrite. You're exactly what's wrong with this entire process and this entire board. You value style over substance. You think that as long as you just say the right things, you'll get little golf claps from everyone in the audience. And I guess being able to go to Macau has just validated you. But, guess what. In the real world we're more polite to each other than that. We don't take cheap shots like that when someone is trying to gracefully extricate themselves from an argument.

Way to stick up for those with messed-up junk.

I'm sorry people on this board treated you so poorly. I wish you the best in your future endeavors.

Fulbrightest, you've put a layer of the finest bull on my essential point. I understand that generalizing a harsh truth can make it easier to swallow. But this isn't about politics. I don't care what Mkurti wants to do with her life. I don't care what wrongs you want to right (although I do wonder how going to Macau can possibly help you, unless you plan on winning big in the casinos.) I am just so sick of the sort of people who inhabit boards like these. God, you want to be leaders? You want to come up with innovative new discoveries? Then why are you filling your minds with all this pap. Have some confidence in yourself! I understand that this is a place to vent. And that's fine. Everyone's got to let their hair down sometimes. Mkurti did that, though you'd think this was an S&M board from the reaction she got here. But no one else is able to summon up even a modicum of her self-confidence. You get the impression that, whether she got this or not, she'd still soldier on and achieve again. I don't get that from anyone else here. And it makes me heartsick. Fulbrights are not just ribbons. They're not treats. They're not a resume builder. And they're not an end in and of themselves. They're an opportunity to _learn_. Hopefully, the people who get them will gain some knowledge of the world that they can use to make it a better place. But changing the world requires immense courage. And I just don't think most of the people have that. When they've finally jumped through all the hoops and gotten all the awards, the stark truth is that they're going to be left in a room, by themselves. And they're going to be expected to come out of that room with _something_ tangible. But from what I've seen, most of you are just going to sit in that room forever, listening to the silence reverberating through your skulls, until it builds up to a pounding crescendo that finally carries you away.

You know what? I admire mkurti098. She's clearly got the drive to succeed, and she'll go far in life. You all criticize her for a sense of entitlement. And that's fine, you're entitled to think whatever you want. One of the virtues of her attitude is that she doesn't care what you think. God, academically talented people in America are conditioned to be so conformist. Since high school, you've just been jumping through these hoops to succeed. You did all the work, did all the reading, got your treats (grades and good colleges). And then you did the same thing in college. It's you who have the true sense of entitlement. You think that just because you did everything you were "supposed to", you're entitled to a fulbright. So you jump on Mkurti for "breaking the rules". Well guess what? The only rule is that losers go home. It's Mkurti who's the true realist. She knows that nothing in life is guaranteed. She knows there are always people out there trying their hardest to get what she wants. She knows that if she doesn't turn over every stone, if she doesn't make every call, if she doesn't work every connection, then she's failed. So she did everything. She did everything that it is possible to do. So hell yeah she feels proud of herself. You might call it entitlement, but it's something she earned. And if you don't feel the same thing then you should feel ashamed of yourself, because it means you didn't do everything you possibly could have. Maybe you'll get that Fulbright. Maybe you even already have it. But its meaningless. Its just another tasty little treat that you got for being so good and doing everything you were supposed to. And yeah, she didn't get it. Maybe she'll get it next year. Maybe she never will. But she's far grander in her sense of entitlement than you are with your little "Best of Show" ribbon.