Descartes once said "I think, therefore I am." That quote was written on the board when we walked into class the first week of Advanced Placement European History some years ago. And so began our first debate. The topic? What in the world did that quote mean? What was he trying to say?
Eventually- and with great assistance from our teacher- we boiled it down to this: perception is everything. The way we view ourselves and the world around us basically composes our own reality. Who is to say that the man muttering to himself on the subway needs help? In your mind he might be crazy, but in his he could just be the most popular guy in town.
Keep in mind, I by no means am trying to poke fun at those who talk to themselves, but merely am demonstrating the utter subjectivity of reality. Now you may say, what in the world does this have to do with anything besides a senseless rambling? I'm getting there.
I have been going on numerous college tours since it is that crazy time of the year. As I stumbled like a baby duck following the revered college students, I kept thinking am I the kind of student who can get in here? Am I good enough? I suppose it does not help that as a teenage girl, I am expected to have my fair share of self-criticisms. But, after looking around for long enough, I was able to see the occupiers of my paradise in their natural state.
SURPRISE! They eat, just like me and my friends do. They laugh like we do. They run like we do. Some even trip like we do. They are not super-humans constructed by a scientist in an underground lab, they are people- teenagers believe it or not!
So what sets us apart? What makes a successful student? Initiative. They saw themselves at Columbia and Duke and Georgetown so they did what they had to to become the people they knew that they had the potential to be. Thankfully I think I have pushed myself enough and have enough time to change my perception and my reality, because the way I see it, the brightness of each star just depends on where you are sitting.
