Perfect Match

In a compelling novel about how a family deals with and survives a tragic event, Jodi Picoult explores the boundaries of love and resilience in a family. In Perfect Match Nina Frost learns that her son has been sexually assaulted and deals with the entire process of helping to bring the person who did this to him to justice. Throughout the novel she pursues many suspects, ultimately leading her to bring the guilty one to justice. This process puts a very large strain on the family and the home life especially at one point, when her husband, the boy's father, becomes a suspect.  There are many turning points in the story that tear at the fabric of the family. In the end though, the family catches the culprit and he is arrested and put away, although for the family that is not the end. Nina and her family have to then from that point learn how to move past this tragic event that ripped apart their family and learn to put it back together.

            This relates with my story about a girl, Emily, who is twenty-two just out of college with Honors, got a job at the most prestigious paper in the city, but joins the wrong group of friends. While being pressured into robbing a convenient store, Emily is torn between the decisions, but in the end goes with them to fit in. After being caught, but let go, Emily and her family then  have to learn how to move on from that and get to a point where they can all accept each other again.

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Don't be Fooled.

You may see them, on Halloween, while you are out with your friends gallivanting around the streets Trick or Treating. Masks are worn by almost every person out on Halloween. People use them to hide an identity, they are used as an escape or a facade to shield their true identity from people. Masks are an interesting thing. 

Halloween is not the time where masks are used. There purpose is not limited to completing or perfecting a costume. Many people use masks in their everyday life. These masks are not pieces of plastic that you can drive and pick up at IParty, these masks are not colorful pieces of paper with feathers glued on to them, and tied to peoples heads. The masks used everyday by people are a different variety. These types of masks are hidden from everyone, you cannot see them simply hanging off peoples faces, they do not show as easily. People hide behind these masks as their own art of pretending. They do not want to be judged or recognized for how they truly feel. These people want you to believe that they have confidence and everything is sunny and unruffled in their lives. A strangers belief in this facade may even convince the person themselves that they are fine. These masks are there also as a protection, while hiding behind them you might start to believe the lies that you show everyone and forget about the world and truth you are hiding from.

Rejection and ridicule are two main things that encourage people to keep their masks. Why would you want to let your feelings pour out, only to be shot down and rejected by your friends? Most people hide behind these masks that they create for themselves because they fear that they may never gain the acceptance and love that they so desperately desire. They believe that their true selves could never be accepted by anyone and they hide behind a fake persona they create for themselves, which they believe people will more willingly accept.

At some point wearing these masks becomes a routine for people. They are so used to pretending that soon they begin to cut themselves out from their friends and the general public. After a period of time from wearing their masks they begin to believe that that is how they must act and letting people understand their true feelings would be a mistake.

The responsibility to help these people then lies on others. For others to realize and recognize these masks when they see them. Do not be fooled by these people because your recognition of these masks may be the thing that help these people understand that there is nothing wrong with being who you really are and letting the world know your true self.

Ten Thousand Feet

Ten thousand feet above sea level is where I feel most at home. Growing up with a pilot as a father has been a catalyst for many unique opportunities. I have known for a while now that flying was my personal pursuit in life, and have been eager to follow this dream. It was never really a question for me, after my father first showed me the inside of the cockpit in a plane I could not stop thinking that it was the most interesting thing to do. How I could not dream of anything better than to be ten thousand feet in the air and flying around, and get the opportunity to do that for the rest of my life.

While other children were at home making hot chocolate and building snowmen during winter break, I was in Amsterdam wandering through the Van Gogh Museum, marveling at his anomalous style and technique. In leiu of tanning I spent the spring in Athens, Greece, lost in ambulatory musings about our disparate cultures. I have been the recipient of many invigorating chances to experience the world and its cultures.

It has been my dream to be a pilot since I was in fifth grade. I oftentimes find myself gazing out at the sky around me, anxious for a future I could spend in the air; a captain of the sky. I have stayed faithful to my dream, with my parents encouraging me to pursue it. On every trip my father takes me to the cockpit and shows me the myriad of charts and checklists he works through before every flight. He has pointed out all the glimmering buttons that surround the small room, and some of their purposes. I now know how to turn on and off all of the lights in the cabin. The walls of my room are covered with posters of flight maps and flight controls. Books on Cessna’s and aviation knowledge line my desk.

             At 5:54PM I stood in the luscious green lawn waiting, adrenalin coursing through my veins, anxiously waiting as my instructor approached me. My first flight was the summer before senior year. The first plane I flew was a Cessna 152. As soon as it took off my feelings were validated: Flying was what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. Flying felt so real and at home for me; I loved being able to rise above the clouds and look down into the soft blue of Plymouth Harbor and fly over Plymouth Rock. I was not the only one impressed. My instructor was pleased to see that when it came down to landing the plane and taxiing I already knew what to do. 

After that flight it became irrevocable. Flying is the future that I want for myself.