萬事如意

When I was a kid, my grandmother used to scold me, repeating that I was 'ambitious', implying that was a terrible thing to be.

As a 'good girl' a was supposed to be modest, quiet, and always ready to happily set for the smaller piece of cake, the uglier cookie, the unpopular toy.

So, I was trained to graciously automatically self inflict the worst crab on the table.

[And, yes, this is a citation from a wonderful book by Amy Tan, then a brilliant movie starring Ming-Na Wen - 'our' Fennec Ming-Na Wen- which I absolutely suggest to everyone: The Joy Luck Club, 喜福會].

What that many people often misjudge about the generation of women used to gladly accept 'whatever is left', is that this does not imply that we think we deserve less than others, or that we lack in intentions or 'ambition'.

It is not for a sense of inferiority that guides our choices, but the awareness that we can handle it, no matter what life throws at us.

Fundamentally, we consider ourselves stronger, so that our focus and tenacity can make up for the initial disadvantage.

Ambition, ultimately, is not at all the antithesis of being (or try to be) kind, compassionate, selfless. We can be all that, and, at the same time, knowing that we deserve whatever we crave, that we are able to achieve it.

Even when we start from the lower ranks, even when we knowingly accept the disadvantage.

So, unfortunately for my grandmother, I don't think that I stopped, not even a second in my life, to be 'ambitious'.

Or, a Slytherin, someone would say.

am·bi·tion

/amˈbiSH(ə)n/

"A strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work."