Hard work and study can truly take a person to places they never imagined.

During my summer vacation trip to the Netherlands, I met a middle school classmate in Amsterdam whom I hadn’t seen in many years. It was a deeply moving experience.

We were once classmates in a poor mountainous region. His parents were ordinary farmers, his family’s financial situation was not good, he had no connections, and no resources to rely on. He said that he studied desperately back then with a very simple thought: he didn’t want to go back home to farm, and he didn’t want to repeat the life of his parents, who toiled in the fields day in and day out.

Later, relying entirely on his excellent grades, he got into a well-known university. After graduation, he was hired as an engineer at a top tech company, where he worked for twenty years. He came to Amsterdam on a work assignment and has now been living here for over a decade, has started a family, and built a happy life.

From a poor village in the past to settling down in Europe today, there were no shortcuts on this journey. It was all built on learning, hard work, and long-term persistence.

For people from ordinary or even poor families, with no capital, no connections, and no safety net, the only person they can rely on is themselves. Studying may not determine one’s entire life, but knowledge and skills can indeed give a person more choices, the opportunity to leave their original environment, and change their own destiny and that of the next generation.

Many years later, reuniting with an old classmate in a foreign country and seeing his life today, I was genuinely happy for him. His life experience also proves that hard work may not pay off immediately, but long-term effort can truly take a person to places they never imagined.

May we all walk steadily and firmly forward on our own life paths.