'Your daughter has passed all her tests, so far, with flying colors.

You can rest

assured that she'll end up in the science section. If you keep up the pace, Amna,
you might even get into one of the best medical institutes. You'll live up to your
dream of becoming a great doctor!'

At the end of 8th grade, the Principal had given me his validation. My friends,
family, and teachers all rejoiced at the fact that I had obtained the grades
required to study the sciences in high school. This would, in turn, allow me to
take the first step towards my dream. The only problem, however, was that the dream
was never mine, to begin with. Nevertheless, I was streamed into what was
considered to be the 'academic' and 'intellectual' path. During the next three
years, I kept rowing forwards, learning to think objectively, a sort of thinking
which was hitherto unknown to me. I learned to love the sciences, achieving top-
notch grades and unending applause. The 'reckoning', as most of my teachers would
call it, came when I stumbled upon a book about home economics in my leisure time.
To me, the book itself was not as fascinating as the concept of the book. By seeing
the processes of the home analyzed objectively, I began viewing my own home as a
sort of business. The monetary flow into and out of the house, the similar patterns
of behavior of the house, the profits and the losses of it and how the decision
making abilities of the managers affected its overall cachet in society. When
looking at it from those perspectives, the realizations were truly remarkable.
After using the house as a basic model, my cognitive progress towards thinking
about the economy as a whole was inexorable. The basic model proved to be a
valuable tool for greater analogies. Almost any macroeconomic concept could be
simplified using the home as an example and, for the most part, the model gives us
knowledge based on the scientific method, a knowledge that is valid and reliable.
Studies relating to business and economics, therefore, are scientific inquiries,
requiring as much appreciation as any other scientific knowledge.

Amidst these discoveries, however, was an exponentially more prominent discovery.

The world, it seemed, could be viewed by infinite perspectives. I could view the
house as a business while viewing society as the economy in which it operates, or I
could see it as an atom in a covalent bond, a bond which forms the 3D structure of
society. I could view the world from the eyes of a philosopher, an economist, a
scientist, and an artist; I would see different versions of the same reality, all
bearing strong and clear contrasted but bonded by subtle underlying similarities.
The question for me was, then, one concerning identity: how do I want to see the
world? The best realization I had, amongst all other realizations, was that I, as
an individual, prefer to see the business model over the 3D structure. An MBBS
degree, despite its prestige in society and academia, would be the result of a
compromise on the definition of my dream and ignorance towards my nature. In
applying for business management, I go up against the teachers who labeled the
business students as unworthy of the title of academics, the system which streams
the students with the higher grades and 'intellect' to the natural sciences, and my
very own parents who think that the plan they had laid out for me was in my greater
interest. Still, I persevere with my wish to study a subject of my choosing at a
college level and the perseverance is evidence of my commitment towards it.