A Tribune.

                                               Teachers

The first teachers I had were, of course my parents. They taught me how to walk, how to eat and the most basic things in my life which is so essential,that that would remain with me for ever. Then they sent me to school-learnt so many brilliant things,such as; how to spell M-A-N-G-O, how to add a two and a two and subtract three from a six but little did I know what life had in stored for me. I was just a three-year-old, happy-go-lucky naive kid, whose happiness was just the experience of  her mother and father doting on her every second. As I grew older, into a rebellious teen- I realized that life was just not that easy and that the result of adding a two and a two did not always turn out to be four. At one of my most difficult teenage years, specifically in my 8th grade-in one of our English Literature classes we were told to write an essay. I was an outcast for sure. A misfit. Always was.A time I distinctly remember having Harry Potter books as my only companions and J.K Rowling-my best friend by day and Guns N Roses, my soothing lulluby by night. My 8th grade Math teacher easily presumed that  I was the dumbest student in class. But that essay that I wrote for my English Literature class changed my life forever. I barely remember what I wrote but I remember writing with pure intentions to be the change so that we could live in a better world the day after that day. The English Literature teacher- Miss Caroline, a lovely old lady as graceful as Princess Grace of Monaco;read out my essay to the whole class that following day. I was taken by surprise,so surprise that I felt numb for seconds. She had the sweetest smile when she called out my name and said that she was giving me full marks for my essay because "at such a young age, she was surprised where I got that kind of wisdom from". That was the first time in my life I realized that I actually enjoyed writing and that I could 'probably' write. My parents always encouraged me to do anything I ever wanted to do but this, even they did not know because guess what, I had never tried earlier.Therefore, neither of us could've known. But Miss Caroline did not judge me as a bad student. She saw potential in me and in probably my worst teenage years, she truly motivated me and showed me a path that would become my saving grace,a path that led me to peace. "Small drops of water make an ocean." This quote would be apt to try and describe how important it was for me at that point in my life for a teacher like that to have intervened in my life,in a simple phrase. My heart would overflow with gratitude when ever I would reflect back on those days. 

                                 Then High School was ready for me one bright day on the Spring of 2007. I met the craziest, funkiest, most unique people I know in my life in High School. I had my first heart break, which was not supposed to be one but I was way too naive. The guy was just a common jerk who taught me a very important lesson in my life-never ditch yourself and your self-respect for a loser who would try to get you down, every moment of your life ,who would make you feel ugly when you are not. Therefore, love others but do not love yourself any less. My friends taught me the meaning of 'FUN', how beautiful true friendship really is, how amazing life can be even when it hits rock bottom and also something very important called, "responsible chilling". Example, take risks but life is too beautiful to kill yourself before time by something one could prevent and take care of such as drunk driving. Dude, please do not go behind the wheels while you are under the influence of alcohol! 

                                 Finally, I have realized just how important FAMILY really is-blood related or not. It does not matter. For me, Family is who you  choose to be with throughout your thick and thin and also the ones who choose you back.Friends are also family, a different kind but almost the same. The "Yoda" of my life is my twin-sister. She is my Yin  and I am her Yang( and vice-versa).My younger brother taught me how one should  take care of a younger one and protect them and to stop bad habits when you need to because the younger ones tend to look up to the elder/older ones. I do not want to say what 'should be' the standard thing to look up to but it is always better to give good examples than bad and also to  look at things from a positive viewpoint than to look at it cynically. Therefore, these things I have stated above are only some of the things I think , have taught me certain things in life but this is not all because knowledge that we could gain is limitless and there is still more to live and more to learn. "Experiences are the best teachers" but we must be aware that,"little knowledge could be dangerous". Thus, we should let life fascinate us,feed our curious minds and be open to learning new things each and every day-in anyway that suits oneself. Let "life" be the Socrates to us  as he was to Plato, and as Plato was to Aristotle!