The Harvard Lawsuit concerning discrimination on Asian-Americans in the school's admissions process enraged thousands. But, I’m rooting for discrimination to continue against Asian-Americans at Harvard and other elite private schools.
Why?
I always like to focus on the positives of bad things. I'm not saying that discrimination is good. It pisses me off that there are still so many racist people in America and around the world. And it makes me mad that my kids are bound to have multiple encounters of discrimination in their lives.
Focus On The Positives Of The Harvard Lawsuit
But, the positive side of the Harvard lawsuit is it can motivate Asians to continue to speak up and fight for what's right.
In addition, when you are discriminated against, you try harder and get the most out of your abilities. When things are given to you, you naturally take things for granted and don’t appreciate as much what you have.
Discrimination gives you the grit and determination to keep on going no matter what. And when you ultimately succeed, there is no more gratifying feeling.
Discrimination is what made me get on that 6am bus on a Saturday morning to go to a career fair three hours away in Washington DC. Nobody else showed up on the bus except me. So the driver swapped the bus out for a car and away we went.
In addition, discrimination helped me keep my composure to endure 55 interviews over 7 rounds to get my first job at Goldman Sachs. After the fifth round of flying back and forth, I thought they were just screwing with me.
Use Discrimination As Fuel To Beat The Competition
Discrimination also gave me the strength to go to business school part-time for three years (Go Cal Bears!) despite working 60–70 hours a week. Spending an additional 20 hours a week in class and group projects was brutal.
In addition, discrimination helped give me the courage to engineer my layoff by negotiating a severance in 2012 at the age of 34 to work on Financial Samurai. I wanted to leave with what I deserved.
Today, discrimination motivates me to wake up by 5-6am every morning to write on Financial Samurai. I want to keep my site up long enough to give my kids job options when they inevitably face discrimination in school and in the work place.
You see, I had originally planned to sell Financial Samurai in 2019 after 10 years and do something new. Ten years of writing 3-4X a week was a long enough time to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. But thanks to the Asian-American discrimination lawsuit against Harvard, I’m re-energized to keep on going until at least 2034.
If I wasn't discriminated against, I would probably still be stuck in a boring 9-5 job wondering whether this is all there is to life. I never would have taken as much risk as I have because I would have been too comfortable to change.
Thank goodness there was constant discrimination that motivated me to not accept society’s crap and blaze my own path.
Springboard Off Of The Harvard Lawsuit
It's good to be furious over the Harvard Lawsuit. But, take your emotions and springboard upwards. You can let discrimination get you down and angry. Or you can use discrimination to motivate you to live your best life.
I choose the later every single day.
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- Take advantage of free online financial tools: Free Wealth Management
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Fight on!
Further Reading
What If You Go To Harvard And End Up A Nobody?
Thoughts On Racism In Virginia By Two Virginians
About the Author: Sam began investing his own money ever since he opened an online brokerage account in 1995. Sam loved investing so much that he decided to make a career out of investing by spending the next 13 years after college working at two of the leading financial service firms in the world.
During this time, Sam received his MBA from UC Berkeley with a focus on finance and real estate. He also became Series 7 and Series 63 registered. In 2012, Sam was able to retire at the age of 34 largely due to his investments that now generate roughly $200,000 a year in passive income. He spends time playing tennis, hanging out with family, consulting for leading fintech companies and writing online to help others achieve financial freedom.
FinancialSamurai.com was started in 2009 and is one of the most trusted personal finance sites today with over 1.5 million organic pageviews a month. Financial Samurai has been featured in top publications such as the LA Times, The Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal.