Who can refrain from applauding the self-starting sentiment Ms. Gil seems to advocate and the trajectory of her story seems to vindicate?  If you want big things in your life, make them.  Do them.  Find them.  Just so.  Bravo for her.   But doesn't the second part of her comments (i.e., the whiny part about budget cuts making college impossible) seem to undercut everything her experience and her noble philosophy ought to have taught her?

To be fair, Ms. Gil is a very young woman and this kind of intellectual inconsistency is not at all surprising in the young.  But it appears to be something that is encouraged by their mentors, those now offering them accolades (including the President) and by the very content of the film that they produced.  Another student involved in the production of the film told members of the California Assembly, "We are not the same. We want to do things that make a difference and we will not just sit by and watch while this whole economy thing gets worse."  No.  They won't sit by.  But why not, instead of agitating on behalf policies that will get other people to do something about the poverty they face, simply work and produce and strive (as, clearly they have demonstrated an amazing capacity to do).  Why not "be the change you want to see" in your own world?   I'm just sayin' . . .