From Diamonds In My Pocket:
At my college at U.C. Santa Cruz, my best friend Tim, who had a persistent interest in what he called my unique world view, would often discuss with me our future as individuals, that is, in the American way apart from family. The point of school, after all, was to develop our potential and find our calling; these plans were not always in accordance with our families’ wishes and the possibilities excited us. He envied me my carefree attitude which he attributed to the security of being able to return to Thailand if I failed in the States. As I stood in the doorway of his dorm room, dressed to go to yet another party, he looked up at me from the physics paper on his desk and commented on my insouciance.
“It’s like you have these diamonds in your pocket and you can cash them in if you need to,” he said.
