October Edition

By: Juliana Manjarrés 10B

Some people are born to live and others are born to survive. Life is not the same for everyone, if for most of us it’s hard it’s even harder for others. Those people who wake up every day with the purpose of overcoming the obstacles in order to outlive in a world like this are the ones who have a lesson to teach us. Let’s face it, most of us are wrong; you think that you learn what’s important for life at school and college; however, the truth is that those who can’t pay for education have more meaningful things to tell you. Fortunately, last month I had the opportunity to do social service with the recyclers in the 127th street and I got to talk to one person in particular who touched my heart; he said things I never thought people like him would think about, he made me realize that life is not only about what you learn in academic institutions, and most importantly, I got to listen to all the meaningful things that a life survivor has to share.

The name of the amazing person who shared his thoughts with me is Segundo. One of the things he told me was that while some people tried to be better than everyone, he was trying to be a better version of himself. He said that he always wanted to become a better human being by becoming a better version of himself. I really admire that, especially because most of us see the world we live in as a competitive place where the ones who’ve gotten more skills will have a better life than those who don’t. We enjoy seeing how we become better people than everyone else, but we don’t realize that when we do that we are actually becoming a worse version of ourselves. So, we shouldn’t waste our lives trying to be better than others because at the end that would be a waste of time and consequently, we would be wasting our lives too. Live for yourself, don’t try to be someone who you clearly are not and enjoy life.

In addition to that, Segundo also said that most people come to the world, not to live but to survive. Every day is a battle between them and all the obstacles they have to fight only to stay alive. Even though he said life was hard for him, he admitted that he was happy, especially because of his daughter; the motor of his life. She makes him wake up every morning with hope and enthusiasm not only to go out and work, but also to become a better version of himself. This helps him keep a good attitude towards life and to be happy.

Moreover, Segundo made an analogy between Monserrate and life: he said that to get to Monserrate there’s a very long staircase, well, it’s the same way in life; if you want to reach you goal you have a long and hard path to follow. Each step you take will get you closer to your objective, so there’s no excuse to stop because with effort you will get wherever you want to. It is not easy, not at all, but if you give up then it will not be worth it. While you keep moving further and further, others will stay at the bottom but the idea is for you to help them get to the top with you.

To conclude, even though some people think life is just about math and history they are wrong. Some of us have got it all in the world and still, we are not happy. Life is not only about academic knowledge, but also about listening to others and learning from what they have to tell us. I learned a lot from Segundo, and I am absolutely sure there’s a whole bunch of stories and thoughts out there untold only because we care too much about other stuff and forget about what makes us better human beings.

 

Surviving Life