College Essay Jeanette

"Find a penny, pick it up. For three days, you'll have good luck." The first time I heard that expression I was watching an American movie in a theatre 50 miles from my house. It just so happened that I had never seen an American before, and I was so amazed at how they looked so different, yet sounded just like my friends and family. The next day home my father explained to me the magic of voice-overs.

It took a few months for me to get over my embarrassment to ask my father what exactly that saying meant. And, it would take a few years for me to actually hold a penny in my hand. In Pakistan there is no money on the streets. Whether you've seen the huge mountain ranges in the paper (supposedly home Bin Laden), or clips of the ferocious, never-ending battle for Kashmir, its common knowledge that Pakistan is not a country of wealth. To find a penny on the ground would be like finding a twenty dollar bill on the ground in the U.S., something you wouldn't need to tell me even once to pick up. At least, that's what I thought before coming to America.

In America pennies cost more to make than they are worth. Americans are virtually LOSING money on the production of them. And no one even wants them. Not only are the streets littered with them, but at every food service store across the country there are small garbage cans solely for them labeled "tip jar." Even at the Subway I work at, many customers refuse to even touch the dirty coin and instead motion towards its small garbage can with a nod of the head or hand. After all, there is nothing you can buy for 1 cent. Only the