Two months removed from submitting college applications, I am still reminded every day that life after high school is creeping up and college in the fall is coming upon us. I still talk to friends about their post-grade school aspirations, and I generally hear about talk of getting into a good university, studying to get a good job, and hopefully making a decent living from it all.
My hopes and dreams are pretty much parallel with everything they set out for themselves, its just that in my case I hope for higher-- to actually make a difference in society, finding something in life worth working towards and busting my butt for, and just making an impact on something worthwhile in my lifetime. Pretty lofty for a seventeen year old Vallejo product, on the fringe of being shot off into his college years. But I believe in my worth enough to know that imagination is greater than knowledge, and some things I think up are of some substance, enough to hold some clout in life towards something, whether it be towards humankind being more energy efficient, or towards innovations in footwear that help optimize athlete's potential, or anything else I put my mind to.
The fact that I never thought of continuing my education for monetary purposes, or for much self-gain in confidence or status always makes me ponder for what really drives me to learn, study, and excel in school. I never felt poor in my entire life, but I never felt rich at the same time. Maybe it was because I knew my parents had money, it was just that they never acted as if they did, or they never treated their kids as if they did. I was never spoiled, everything I got I had to earn from my parents, working with my dad in the yard, building additions to houses, working in the summers. And really, I wouldnt have it any other way. I am who I am because of the things I have been through, I am a product of parents who own four properties and ten cars (four unused due to age or faulty engines). I am always told that when I have worked hard enough and when my dad gets old he'll give me his Escalade and 1962 Pontiac Catalina (less than 25k mileage, pristine condition).
With all this said, what in the world would drive me to excel in things I involve myself in?
It is because of the high core values instilled in me by my parents and lasting teachers in my life that motivates me to be the best I can be. My upbringing is everything to me and it shaped me into who I am and what I value. I was always told that with great power comes great responsibility, and I was also told to always strive to be better than your parents. My mom always hung motivating posters and poems in my room, prints and cut outs from magazines on my wall. My father was the one who taught me basically everything about hard work, to finish thoroughly, and to always be fair. And teachers such as Mr. Tillay, the Lawsons, Ms. Duncan, these teachers are also monumental in my development not just as a student but as a person as well.
My outlook on life is not just to go through the regular and find a 9 to 5 and pay the bills, I am looking for change. I am looking for impact. Something I can find purpose in, and that I know my actions are directly making a difference, or building collectively with others' work to make a difference. Money is not my M.O.
Money does not move me. It's extra credit.
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