These days it is possible to see a lot of people, who have a dream, maybe not an ordinary one, but under the pressure of people has or had no chance but to go on the path that was chosen, by others. One can find a lot of stories about the inspiration and the freedom of choice, but there is a scary side, the regret. The story is about the society power, the pressure from it, and the influence on the person s decision.

Shooting an elephant, by George Orwell. The story describes one period in life of George Orwell. The main hero, author himself, has uneasy period of life, working as a policeman in Burma. He is hated by everyone in the village, because he is white.

Probably the reason was that Burma was a British colony. Author stays in a specific neutral position between people and colonialism, he says: I was stuck between my hatred of the empire I served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make my job impossible . Then one day elephant rages the market and murders a person who was just a passerby. The hero decides to go for an elephant with an elephant gun, not to kill, but to protect himself in case elephant attacks. Policeman went to paddy fields, below the village, followed by thousands of people, expecting to see the elephant being shot, they also didn't care already, that the he was a white male, they just wanted to see the show, and get some meat. Main hero doubts whether to kill the elephant or not, but being under the pressure of mass of people, makes him shoot the elephant. The animal doesn t die after first shoot, but making agonized shrieks, making the policeman feel even worse, making this more similar to a murder. He fired all ammos trying to stop elephants pain, but useless. Maybe he wouldn t do such a decision to shoot the animal, but
being under pressure of people, thousands of them leaves no choice. As he says he would have been laughed if he didn t shoot, and every white man s life in the East, was on long struggle not to be laughed at. Probably, the author still remembered everything that happened on the paddy fields in Burma during the lifetime, and surely regretted about that day.

Especially in Asian countries the pressure coming from the society and biases in it are so strong that it is sometimes very difficult to differentiate the thoughts, whether those are yours or the ones that society made up. Don't be afraid don t bend under the society, be what you want yourself to be, be an individual don t regret and the success will wait for you.

Cho Dmitriy
(division of business administration 4th)