Change and then Change
As we get older we begin to understand and see the world for what it is. The only issue about that is that everyone’s world is completely different. It wasn’t till I had gotten older and looked back at everything I’ve experienced that made me realize how different the world was which groomed me to the person who I am now. There were about 2 major experiences I would say shaped my values and expectations about my place in life.
The very first experience was when I was 9 years old coming back from Australia. I had first gone there when I was 5 years old, so from ages 5 to 9 all I knew was what I was taught in Australia. It felt as if that’s where I was born at because growing up that’s all I could obtain and understand. So being that young and leaving from all that I knew to completely starting over was kind of scary. I think what hit me the most was seeing my mother when she picked me up from the airport because I could never remember who she was or what she looked like. I knew from that very moment that things were going to change and that I had to adapt.
The next I would definitely say was my junior year in high school. I had gone from going to a high school that was predominantly diverse with Black, White, and Hispanic. my freshman year to going to a predominantly White school my sophomore year. So with this being my 3rd high school I felt comfortable adapting also it being a historically Black boarding school I felt as though I would fit in perfectly. Things went well for the most part but it was a very big culture slap in the face for me going from Las Vegas to Mississippi. The very most important thing that has stuck to me too this day was that one of my classmates asked me “why do you talk like your white “? That by far was the hardest question I had with trying to understand and process. I never understood how someone could just “talk white”. I thought talking was just talking, I did understand the concept of accents and slang and such but too me I thought the way I talked was very normal and common. From that day forward I struggled with understanding how people could just be comfortable with accepting what other people or media portray you to be. Because when I was asked that question time after time I would sit here and ask to myself “if I talk white, then what is talking black”. The I began to question what makes someone black besides their skin color. Some many questions were raised after I was asked this. But when I look back on it now it was just a lack in education and culture backgrounds.
Which leads me to the one of the most important influences that deeply shows who I am. Both of those two experiences go right into who I am and what I strive for and that is change with growth. Not just for me but for other people in the world. My mother told me when I was about 12 years old, “Travel the world, there’s more to life than what is here in Las Vegas. You’d be surprised how many people have never even been outside of their own state”. Ever since that day I said I will travel the world and see what else is out there. So having the desire to change and grow I can help others in the world do the same based off of my experiences with learning to adapt and education. Because how you change based on your experiences can help someone else do the same.
