Nobody likes to admit they made a mistake. In our society, professing your failure has become a deadly option. We believe it is best to sweep as much under the rug as possible, focusing only on our victories. Maybe this is because of how easy it is to point out another person’s error. Maybe if we could learn the process of forgiveness, people would own up to their actions. But until we do, it will be nearly impossible to have a truly honest society.
I used to live strictly by this system, hiding all shame. I have been raised under the argument that anything less that 100% success is ultimate failure. This applied to every aspect of my life: grades, sports, friendships, family, and anything else I was involved in. If I wasn’t the best, it seemed like the effort was worthless. I have come from a very competitive background, and this was just the way it has always been.
However, I have been leaning towards a new perspective lately. What if people admitted their mistakes, and moved on? What if, instead of trying to hide their problems, they were able to work through them with people who really cared? If someone had proposed this to me a few months ago, I would have laughed in their face. What a ridiculous idea. But now, I’m starting to like it. I’m not going to lie, a lot of this has to do with our new basketball coach, Coach Colter. He has challenged our team in so many ways to be better individuals. I used to think what I did was not important, and that even if I made mistakes, they only affected me. And I couldn’t have been more wrong.
It took Coach Colter for me to finally realize that we, as seniors, are the leaders of this school. Everyone looks up to us, imitates us on a regular basis. As a senior captain of our girls’ basketball team, I hold several very crucial futures in my hands. I have two options. One, I can be like the seniors of the past. I can run over those girls and put them in their place, show them the true meaning of being a freshman. Or I can take the higher road, and be their friend. I can help them through their issues, one step at a time. I can listen when they need me. When it seems to them like nobody else really cares in the world, I can be the one person to prove them wrong. And that starts by admitting that I screw up sometimes myself. I may be a senior, but I have my rough moments as well. After all, it is much easier to admit your problems to someone you know shares them. This has made me realize that I can either be a friend these young girls look up to, not just an older member of the team. I finally have the power to make a difference in many impressionable lives, and that’s what I intend to do.

Give all to Love

“Give all to love;
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good fame,
Plans, credit, and the muse;
Nothing refuse.”
From “Give All to Love” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

I think that many times we are too afraid to “give all to love” as this poem says we should. We are too afraid that we will be rejected or hurt, or that our love will not be returned, and so we do not give love everything we have, and therefore many of us will never know what it is like to love with everything we have and be loved in return just as much. I believe that some of the best things in life cannot be obtained without risking a little of yourself.
You must sometimes put your feelings for another out in the open in order to gain a good relationship with them. You must risk the possibility of looking like a fool every time you try something new. You must embrace the chance that you might fail any time you take on a difficult task, but if you do not risk these things and put a little bit of yourself out there, then you will never achieve anything worthwhile.
You see, life, and I mean true life lived the way it is supposed to be, is not about just sitting back, being comfortable, and making sure that you are always safe and sound in your little bubble. It is experiencing new things, learning the joys of helping people, and risking a little in order to make a big achievement, that really comprise a life lived to the fullest.
A baby crippled by the fear of falling will never learn to walk. An athlete who doesn’t shoot for the fear of missing the goal will never win the game. A lover afraid to share their feelings with the person they love may miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime. Everything worth anything comes with a little risk. And I am speaking to myself here as much as anyone else. I am probably the worst about not wanting to risk anything, even if I have everything to gain. However, this year I am going to try to overcome that fear and just take the leap into something unknown, and I encourage you to do the same.
-SarahBeth