By: Evelyn Carrillo

It’s hard. Almost nothing in life is easy. Family, friends and people. No matter what you do in life you’re going to be criticized. The way you look and the way you talk won’t always be favored by people. I get that. But do you? It’s all right to be different than others. That’s what makes you, you. Coming from experience, I’ve seen people bullied for the way they act around people and shamefully I’ve done nothing to help them out. Don’t you think it’s better to leave them alone? If you shake your head no, then I respect you. It’s hard thinking differently than other people; we don’t get an instruction manual. We’ve decided on our own what to do, and what not to do. We were all taught differently.

I’ve noticed something during my Sophomore year, that many of my classmates have family problems. I’m glad that I’m one of the lucky ones who fortunately does not have any problems with my family but, for the ones that do, I can only drop my head in embarrassment. I complain how my life’s boring and bad because it doesn’t go the way I want it to. I then tell myself people have it way worst than me. I’m in no position to tell people that my life is better or worse than others because I honestly don’t know about their lives.

People around me have different stories and different adventures. I’ve noticed that people in my classroom are actually pretty cool and funny kids to talk to, but they don’t necessarily make the best decisions in life. I realized that people do drugs because they want a chance to escape from all their problems and be in a state where they don’t have to think about all their hardships in life. I know that all the “bad” kids in my class do a lot of things for all their own reasons, and I completely respect that. Whether it’s to fit in, escape reality, or simply do it out of boredom. It’s not easy living a life that you have almost no control of. Or can you?

Life can have you on a leash. It takes control of what you do and where you go. You slowly drag your way to the direction of where life wants you to be. But have you stopped and thought about when is it my turn to take the lead? Life doesn’t have to drag you, you can drag it. Take control of your life and do what you think is best. Have you ever had a dream that you think would never be accomplished? We probably all had that idea cross our minds at least one point in our lives. Don’t think negatively, always think positive. Even if you think it’s impossible achieve the dream you want at least try. No “I’ll do it later”, “I’ll do it tomorrow” or “It will never happen”. If you dream of something big no matter how ridiculous it may seem, no more sitting around and doing nothing. If you say you’ll do it, do it. I hear a lot of people around me say that they’ll make a change, including politics. What I say to them, is: No more saying “I’ll do this and that”, saying something might get you somewhere, but actually doing something will make you achieve incredible and unimaginable things.