Household items began to disappear as the boxes made their entrance in early December as I walked through the house playing my own personal “Spot the Difference” game. I was not looking forward to trading the palm trees, and the ocean’s waves for a cowboy boots and country music. Shoving my past life into the depths of my suitcase; we moved to Texas.
With this new school named “Vandegrift”, I wondered if I needed stop by Ollivander's to pick up a wand. I had high hopes of starting my reputation with my real personality, a social butterfly, instead of being intimidated and constantly worrying about others’ opinions, so imagine how ecstatic I was when I realized my first class was Speech.
Mr. Fox said there were no assigned seats, but the rest of the class seemed to understand their placement, leaving the sketchy looking couch waiting for me. He gave us our first speech assignment; “find a song that means something to you, read the lyrics to the class and explain why you chose it”. Students flowed through their five minutes of spotlight; there were barely any signs of nerves. Fellow classmate Eric stepped up to the stand wanting to highlight his presentation; that changed how I’ve lived my life since that day.
I felt nervous for Eric after he asked for permission to sing his song; he tried his best to sing in tune. It took three minutes for him to finish his performance; I could not bring myself to look at him. I realized that feeling scared for him was not necessary because he felt comfortable enough within himself to remain apathetic to others’ judgment and just have fun. Eric received tremendous applause. He took advantage of the moment and seized the chance to be different.
I was the next victim of judgment. Stumbling over the title of my song, I swore to myself that I would perform it. My mouth could not keep up with my mind. Shaking, I felt like I was doing some sort of strobe light dance, which I didn’t understand because I performed this a hundred times in my room to my reflection. When the end of the lyrics were mentally visible, I began to recollect my nerves and smiled, proud of my decision.
The expressions on the faces of my classmates were priceless and there was a sudden bounce of confidence in my step. I realized that others’ opinions of me were irrelevant, and I needed to be myself if I wanted to have real friends, so I made many changes after that day. Learning to love myself and let others love me for who I really am are lessons that will stick with me for the rest of my life because I realized that I should not conform to society. Eric was my inspiration to perform that song, reminding me to be the person I am when nobody is watching because that person is awesome despite what others may think.