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So let me guess; when you were little everyone was always asking you "What do you want to
be when you grow up?" And if you were anything like me you probably said a veterinarian or
a special education teacher, or maybe not, maybe you said a police officer, astronaut,
or a nurse. But as you got older that question began to change, through elementary school,
middle school, and now high school. They begin to ask you "What do you want to be?" Because
at this point it's not a matter of growing up anymore, it's a matter of being something,
being someone. But how are you supposed to know what you want to be if you don't know
who you want to be? And how are you supposed to know who you want to be, if you don't even
know who you are right now. You have to know who you are. And to be totally honest that
is one of the hardest things to figure out... Who are you? Who am I? Meanwhile, people are
constantly telling you "Play sports," "Get good grades," "Focus on your grades," "Get
involved," "Take AP classes" ... "because it looks good for college." They are saying
"Get a job," "Apply for scholarships," and "Save your money" ... "because you'll need
it for college." But then they also tell you "It's your senior year, have fun," "This is
your last year being a kid," "Make some good memories," ... "because soon you'll be going
to college." The other day my mom asked me "Why do you want to go to college?" and that
question made me really upset. It made me really upset because I don't know. I don't
know why I'm planning on going to college because I don't even know what I want to do
with my life yet. Everyone is constantly telling you to visit schools, make a list of colleges
that you want to look at, figure out what you want to major in... but it's not very
often that people ask you what you really want and you just listen to them because they
know what's best... don't they? Today, society is constantly telling us that if you don't
go to college you can't succeed, you can't get a job, you can't do what you love, and
you will not succeed. So we listen because, to be honest, we don't know the truth, we've
never been through this before... we've never done this before. So maybe next time you ask
someone what schools they're looking at, if they have been accepted yet, or where their
friends are going for school and they shut down, get nervous, upset, or angry... maybe
it's because they don't know the answers to those questions, they don't know what's going
to happen and that's scary. All throughout your life thus far you've had a path set for
you, something that comes next. It was preschool and then elementary school, then it was junior
high and then high school, but after that you have to start making decisions about a
future that you have no clue about. It's scary not to know what you will become. It's scary
not to know if you are making the right decisions. It's scary to think that the decisions you're
making right now will affect your entire future and your entire life in the long-run. And
most importantly: It is scary not to be able to answer the question; "What do you want
to be when you grow up?"