Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.
All life demands struggle. ~Napoleon Hill
Living in a poor town on a Washington State reservation, a kid seeks to find hope. This boy’s name is Junior. However, nothing can ever be easy. Junior faces countless challenges and adversity; moreover, he needs to find hope if he is to be able to overcome this struggle. I was similar in this way, as I needed to look at the bright side and push through annotating the book. Struggle, while a piercing blade poised to penetrate your heart, is dulled by the rigid stone of hope.
“Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever.”
~Roy T. Bennett
Nothing great in life comes without adversity. For me, this meant being able to dive into new experiences. When I was all alone; the new boy at school, I had to push past the fear and overcome the adversity. It was my first day at a new school. I was starting the eighth grade, and didn’t know what to expect. All the other kids already knew each other from previous years, but I was a new boy. I had to leave all of my friends from my old school behind, and start a new chapter of my life.
“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” ~Aristotle
With many important things on my mind, reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, wasn’t at the top of my list. The book started slowly and I quickly wanted to stop reading the book and focus on my secondary school essays; however, as I continued reading the book, I learned many key takeaways from this book. Even though this book was a struggle for me to read, I locked in and finished the reading—a reading that explores the effects of poverty and difference in profound ways on a sarcastic, lively boy named Junior, growing up on a Native American reservation, and taught me to accept academic challenges in a more complete way..
Challenge is a plague to us all. The amount of times that I’ve done something without any form of adversity is slim to none. Whether I’m in the classroom, running in cross country or even just playing games by myself, there are hardships embedded within all of my actions. A reward will not be awarded until a challenge is overcome.
Hard work is so much more than one hour, one day or one week. If it wasn’t for hard work I would not be in the place I am today. I started hockey as a 6th grader, behind everyone else. Kids have been skating and playing for years longer than me. I had to put in hard work if I wanted to make a club team and take that next step. I put on my pads for the first time ever. As a 12 year old 6th grader, very small and new to hockey. I was nervous and my legs were shaking as I waited for the ice to be done when I stepped on to play hockey for the first time. Some of my friends like Sam Griwold or Harry Lavoie were there with me but these guys have been playing most of their lives. I was awful, falling almost every second and coming in last in the skating drills. As I got off the ice that day I wanted to quit, I was the worst out there and I didn’t feel good about myself. The next day I went back on the ice. Harry taught me a few things and I could already feel myself getting better. Every day for that 6th grade winter JV season I kept trying and slightly improving. By the end of that season I was loving the ice time with my friends and I was rarely falling, that season was when I fell in love with the sport.
Passion isn’t made, it’s discovered. The deep gash from life will beat you down. But under the cuts and bruises lies someone who is passionate; one so passionate they were willing to take shots blow by blow and get back up again, not because they are invincible, but because of their love. Passion drives us; passion is what makes me wake up on a Monday morning off and get in the car only to drive an hour and a half just to play a beautiful game. That game is soccer!
