High School

Movies always portray high school to be a danger zone, where to survive you have to be liked, be popular, or have some type of special quality that would be considered cool to others. There are people who spend their entire high school career pursuing the acceptance of people they will probably never see after high school. Then there are the ones who purposely try to be different to be original, an individual, but also end up fitting in a certain category of other individuals. My high school experience is in between. I tried to be friends with everyone and I just sat back to see where that took me. I acted like myself and people either liked me or thought I was "interesting". By "interesting", I mean I didn't fit the stereotype. As a black, male teenager, I was supposed to act and dress a certain way that would make me assimilate into the rest of the "black society". That would have made me popular. That would have been the easy way out. But I guess I had other issues to attend to, like increasing my GPA, studying for SAT, college, things like that. So to all those who have strived to be the most popular, whats next for you?

Icon

When I was in the 9th grade, my mom forced me to watch a biographical movie about Mahatma Gandhi because she said that it would change my way of thinking and my way of life. At the time, I was mad because I had to watch a movie with my mom, and when it was a movie she liked, she talked through it. After awhile, when I heard the dialogue, I started thinking about all the messages he gave throughout the movie that made sense. "It may seem like rulers will never step down, but throughout history, tyrants are always defeated." Then, I thought about Caesar, Stalin and Hitler, feeling like I had been enlightened. His insightful thoughts and position on non-violence in a way changed my life. His mass civil disobedience against the British in India showed me that you don't always have to fight someone to get what you want. No wonder Martin Luther King used him as inspiration.

"One of the great myths of life is that childhood passes quickly. In fact, because time moves more slowly in Kid World--five times more slowly in a classroom on a hot afternoon, eight times more slowly on any car journey of more than five miles, and so slowly during the last week before birthdays, Christmases, and summer vacations as to be functionally immeasurable--it goes on for decades when measured in adult terms. It is adult life that is over in a twinkling."
-Bill Bryson, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

"Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success. "
- Louisa May Alcott

I chose these quotes because they relate to me in an opposing way. My entire life has been spent working; working in school, working at home, summer jobs, etc. My parents believed in staying ahead of the game when it came to education and complete submission towards it was the only way to go. Therefore, I never had many friends, never hung out much, and I haven't had a party at my house since I was seven. All I could think about when I was younger was that I couldn't wait to grow up so I could control my own destiny. Unfortunately, adulthood is just around the corner, and the only glimpse of what childhood is supposed to be is from books and movies. I've spent most of my high school years playing catch up by hanging out as much as possible, forcing myself to meet new people, and even trying to throw parties at my house (that didn't exactly work out). I have transfromed from the super shy guy to a laid-back, friendly guy living through the best years of his youth.