I'm not gonna lie to you...I have to cheat today. I'm helping a friend move in about fifteen minutes, so not much time to write. So I'm gonna go ahead and share with you an assignment I wrote in class. It sounds a little cocky, sure, but it really jives with my theme of being yourself. I hope you enjoy.
If I could be
anyone in the world, alive or dead, I would most definitely choose myself. I
feel as though this should be everyone’s answer. I understand that there are
and have been lots of amazing people throughout history and in present times. I
understand that there are a great many inspirational stories. I understand that
everyone has role models. I also understand, however, that role models,
inspirational stories and amazing people are all brought about by conviction.
If these same people had been too afraid to be themselves, to stand for what
they believe in, to conquer all obstacles in their way, their stories would not
exist. I want to write my own story.
To this point, I feel as though my
life has been fairly run of the mill. My parents divorced when I was five. I
had my fair share of small successes and what seemed at the time to be huge
defeats. I’ve made and lost countless friends. I attended university for one
year. I worked at several different crappy jobs during high school. It all sounds
pretty bland.
Having said that, the more I think about it, the more
extraordinary I become. I attended three different schools in Grade 4. I’ve
worked in kitchens. I’ve helped build houses. I’ve cleaned toilets. I’ve lived
in apartments, houses, rented rooms and 8 man tents. I’ve been to a war zone.
I’ve been around the world. I’ve made the best of my mistakes, learning from
every single one.
Through it all, there were times when I felt as though I
should give up. For example, when I was seventeen I got my girlfriend, Johannah
pregnant. Her parents banned me from their house and forbade her seeing me. My
drama teacher pulled Johannah aside and told her that I would never amount to
anything. Our school’s health nurse told us that we needed to have the pregnancy
aborted. My daughter is now seven and lives with Johannah and I in an apartment
in Halifax.
When I look back at who I’ve been and who I’ve become, I can
only smile. Sure, there were hard times. But there were also great times. As I
write this, I think of everyone else. Most people are just like me; they think
they are pretty boring. They think they are no different than anybody else.
They think they are not extraordinary.
Bollocks, I say.
There are closed doors and pitfalls everywhere in life. While
hindsight may be 20/20, the future always remains unknown. That’s what makes
each and every individual heroic. The strength to knock those doors down…the
power to pick yourself up after you fall, that’s where true greatness hides. It
takes courage to wake up everyday and face the day, to face the unknown. It
takes bravery to go out into the world and say “This is me. This is who I am.”
Sure, we all have role models. We all have ideas that we’ve
adopted from someone else. But we bring our own experience to each idea. We
have chosen to believe the things we believe, and that by itself is an act of
bravery. I feel like everybody should worry less about how they are seen by
everyone else, and live for themselves. I’ve reached this conclusion, and I
strive to live it every day. That’s why I would never want to be anyone else. I
want to be the person that I want to be…and that’s exactly what I am.
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