I believe in the unknown. I believe in its secrets, its mysteries, and its truths that are all waiting to be illuminated by our curiosity, by our urge to know everything. I believe in its strange power to give hope to those who have none, to inspire and encourage those who feel defeated, and to teach bravery to those who confront things that they have never seen or done before.

My parents had always explained to me how they came to the United States . They arrived in 1988, not knowing what was in store for them in such a foreign land compared to their homes in India . With only forty dollars in hand, they began to trek into the world unknown to them, much like the first explorers who stumbled onto the New World . They came with hope, hope that a new life was in store for them, one that would be better than the one they abandoned in India . In America , they were not bound by social and economic status; nothing was impossible, and all was unknown for them. The possibility of a better life had mesmerized them. Despite hardships, my parents continued to work for the life that they wanted, with their only hope in that the future was not set in stone, and that everything that was to come was a mystery.

My parents are now living in prosperity, content with their lives and achieving their dreams. However, my experience with the unknown has just begun. From a young age, the mysteries of the natural world and the intricacies of science fascinated me. From the working of the atom that creates everything in the world, to the super massive black holes and galaxies in the universe, science gave me a direct confrontation with the unknown. Through experiments and research, I began my own journey into the darkness of the unknown, and I slowly revealed its contents. I remember my teachers lecturing me about the age of dinosaurs and how my mind became fascinated with these huge creatures. I wondered how they must have been like, how they lived, and many other things that I could not answer. I would go to library every day, checking out books and reading them while looking at the illustrations of dinosaurs. Later, I began to learn of the basic principles of atoms, the concept of gravity, and the infinite abysses of black holes. I learned of the different subatomic particles, the concept of light and electromagnetic radiation, and the inner workings of a cell in my own body. Today, I have begun to delve into formal scientific research, and slowly I hope to reveal the secrets that nobody has discovered, and bring more knowledge into the world.

The darkness was never intimidating. The unknown encouraged me, making me yearn to learn more about the secrets that it held from me, coaxing me to take one more step into its shadows, without fear of what might be true, or what may happen. I take no fear in doing something different, in doing something in which the outcome is uncertain, for as Claude Bernard once said, “ Man can learn nothing unless he proceeds from the known to the unknown. ” The unknown serves as a powerful force for progress, and to embrace the unknown is to attain knowledge, to attain self-betterment, and to attain happiness throughout one's life. This I believe.