Awakenings

I grew up living down the block from my elementary school. It seemed after I left one school to enter the next, the distance began to lengthen. First it was from elementary to intermediate school; half a block to twelve blocks. Then it was from intermediate to high school; twelve blocks to two boroughs. Finally I’ve arrived to college to reach a median. It’s actually quite fitting to arrive at Baruch College since I’ve ventured so far and not so far for my education but in the end I will arrive right in between. (more…)

A climax is a turning point in a plot during which the characters of a story are usually greatly changed or develop a new way of thinking. Everybody at some point in time experiences a climax or turning point in their lives. It can be thought of as an evolution from one mindset to another.

If there is one word which has left my mouth more than any other in the past 5 years, it would have to be “training.” Whether it was wrestling practice, weight training, running, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, or other forms of it, training has occupied a tremendous portion of my everyday life. Many may think that the types of training that I do are solely physical; however, training makes people stronger, faster, and simply put, better, both physically and mentally.
My love for Martial Arts and related combat sports reached its peak when I entered High School. At five feet, three inches tall, I was confronted by a man who towered over me at six feet, two inches tall and approximately three hundred pounds. This giant of a man, Dr. George A. Hero, looked at me and said “You’d make a great lightweight! How much do you weigh?” I looked up at him and said in a proud, bold tone, “One hundred and fifteen pounds sir!” That was the day I joined Midwood High School’s wrestling team. Little did I know that I would soon fall in love with the sport to the point of obsession. (more…)

There are things that happen in life that changes a person; things that make the world loose its innocence, as the harsh and cold reality hits. Little kids believe that things last forever, especially friendships, and I was no different. My first best friend in America was Danja, a little Dominican girl with frizzy hair. We were two awkward kids that had a lot in common; the love for nail polish, Barbie’s, Britney Spears, boys, and all things that are shiny. We met the first day of fifth grade, and we became the best of friends since then. I slept over so often that her mom was practically my own. We would spend hours on the phone when we’re not together, even if we weren’t saying anything, we had each other on speakerphone just in case anything happened. (more…)

A chaotic senior year of high school and the end of the college admission process left me exhausted and somewhat devastated. I had high expectations, not unreasonably, had performed at my very best for four years, but ultimately was not accepted into the University of Pennsylvania. Having raked up an excellent SAT score and the title of salutatorian, somehow without my better judgment and despite my determined resistance, my hopes and my imagination slipped free and embraced the wonderful idea of studying at Wharton at the prestigious University. Rejection was neither a blow to my pride nor fuel for anger. I was simply lost. I can not say that now I have found my way, but I believe that nothing has been lost either. Sometimes I wonder how the idea of going to Wharton ever entered my mind. No doubt it was implanted there by my well-meaning mother or by my brilliant but over-achieving friends. Certainly, I could have never put it there myself. In fact, for four years I was so immersed in chasing some noble, but distant and foreign goal, that I never pondered how truly distant and foreign that goal was for me. This experience had not etched a newfound philosophy in my mind, as I have noticed that my best conceived theories have a peculiar way of distorting my perspective and eating at my happiness. With the benefit of hindsight, I see that I had not lived the life I would have wanted. Time, so fleeting and precious, is just better spent it seems doing whatever it is that you want to do. Consciously making an effort to unearth what it is that I want, I have found myself in the company of better people, exploring interests that I never thought I had and finding more time for reflection, which still poses a small threat of producing those ‘well-conceived’ theories.

Some people are lucky enough to experience one defining moment in their lives that brings them a step closer to becoming who they truly are. For me, that experience stands out as a freeing, and motivating experience, something that changed my way of thinking and inspired me to be something more than I already was. (more…)

From simply looking at a person’s face, one can easily know many things about the person. What race is the person? Approximately what age is he/she? However, all of these observations are completely superficial; none of which tell about the real person that lies within the shell. The person inside can be anyone, ranging from one extreme of the spectrum to the other. Additionally, the face has a knack for being able to hide the plethora of experiences a person has had throughout their entire life. (more…)

I would like to call myself a wannabe fashionista. There is something about fashion that really intrigues me. It is not simply the fact that I really enjoy putting outfits together and am obsessed with clothing, but I feel designing and making my own pieces of clothing allows me to materialize my creative energies. Reconciling color schemes and coordinating textures has been a hobby since I was very young. (more…)

Not being an outstanding baseball player, there was never much pressure on me to make much of a difference in the friendly games that my friends and I played during summer vacations. I enjoy playing baseball but I just lacked the skills that my other friends possessed. Our games usually began when we challenged whoever happened to be on the field. One of these games would actually bring me an experience that was strangely both educational and exhilarating. (more…)

Since the theme of this seminar is awakening, I want to talk about my awakening and how it has affected my life. The awakening that I experienced was not sexual, but was about my views and realizations about life. It occurred to me in my junior year of high school and continues to grow with me to this day.

My childhood was care free; no worries or responsibilities. All I was concerned with was having fun, ignoring the fact that one needs to challenge themselves if they want to grow up to be a well rounded person. Since I didn’t have any drama or responsibilities, I didn’t really have any experiences that shaped my character. My infatuation with strictly having fun would eventually catch up to me later in life.

Unlike most people, my awakening happened relatively later in life. Going into my junior year of high school, I began to think about how the grades that I was getting were insignificant compared to the millions of students around the country. It made me so angry to see that I was just another number in the school system and that the only way to distinguish myself from others was by improving my academics. I now realized that there was a vast world ahead and that education was the key. I realized that I needed to take on new responsibilities and challenges, no matter how much I didn’t want to.

I began to enjoy taking on my fears and obstacles, which proved to be a difficult but enjoyable task. I tried to always do something productive, whether it is building my vocabulary, improving my social skills, or simply working on a new talent. Walking on my hands, beat boxing, and randomly engaging in conversation with strangers is just a small way I try to become a more interesting and outgoing person. I got my first job as a lifeguard during the summer of 2007 and experienced a new level of responsibility. Being held accountable for someone’s life was extremely stressful but ended up being a fun challenge and only left me craving more.

Growing up in such a carefree environment, I had to create my own challenges to mature as a person. My awakening began academically and developed into a project for personal growth. I admit that there were countless times where I felt as if I should just give up. The only way I was able to cope with those feelings was to accept that life isn’t always pleasurable and to just do what has to be done. I feel that even to this day, I have so much more to discover about myself and about the world and I will continue my journey with an open mind and a positive attitude.

From a visitor’s perspective, it started as a regular visit. A daughter and two granddaughters surrounded her bed- their weekly visit. Unaccustomed to her inability to follow conversations and her fluttering eyes, blinking in and out of consciousness, the ambulance was called. Upon arrival of the Maimonides Hospital, it was discovered that the grandmother was bleeding in the brain, caused by a fall two or three nights prior. (more…)