One day we’ll look back at this day and laugh. Or maybe we’ll cry. Or, it’ll be really awkward, and we’ll just change the subject. Is that really what will happen? Or will we not remember? Will we be alive long enough to even look back on this day and laugh or cry or feel really uncomfortable? Will we ever be mature enough to look back on this day? What makes this day, out of them all, stand out so much that we will look back on it?
Life raises many questions. It is impossible to raise them all. For you, or I, am just one person out of the millions, out of the billions. And among that large number, who am I, but a speck, in the impossible crowd? What can I possibly do that will make my light shine brighter than anyone else’s? And what gives me the right to look back at my life and laugh? Or cry? How many more things can other people endure? How much is experienced, that I will never, ever experience? I have hopes, I have dreams, but there are certain things out there that I have never imagined.

And right now, I cannot even grasp what life may bring me. I don’t know what it’s like to be an adult; I don’t know what it’s like to accept full responsibility for anything. I do know what it’s like to make a difference. I know what it’s like to have my handwriting in a country I’ve never even caught a glimpse of. But, that is merely one footprint among many before me, and the many that will follow afterwards. And I’m only a teenager. How do I know if that footprint, that hand stretched across an ocean, how do I know that that’s the only one I will ever leave? Or what if I leave an even bigger one down the road? Or what if I leave multiple smaller ones?
Will I get recognized? Will I be in textbooks 50 years from now? Will my name be used in language arts classes or English classes by people I have never met and never will meet?
The future holds a lot for me. It holds a lot for everyone, especially these next few decades. I have a feeling that as we get into the second decade of this century, we face many challenges. And, in the future, if or when I look back on ‘the good old days,’ which may as well be today, what will I think? Will I be grateful that I tried my best to get my name out so early on in life? Or will I think that I was just some stupid kid among the many others, and could have devoted much more of my time to the important things.
Will I be content? Will I be satisfied? Will I be impressed? Will I be disappointed? I don’t know. Will I regret? Will I be happy that I went in the direction I did? Or will I decide I should have gone the complete opposite way? Life raises a lot of questions. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to answer all of them.