Digital Voices

Zach’s speech

I believe everyone should take a vacation every once in a while. How often do you dream of that nice vacation to Florida or California? Do you ever wonder why vacations are desirable? It’s because they relieve stress from everyday lives.
Everyday in our world, no matter how you go about your life, you will become stressed since stress is unavoidable. Stress has many harmful effects. Some include: body aches, trouble concentrating, and poor relationships with people, harmful eating habits, and in the worst cases can lead to extreme acts of violence. Going on a vacation can help relieve stress, because it helps you temporarily escape the everyday places that you see that may be causing you stress.
Another way in which taking a vacation is beneficial is that you can bond with your family, or friends, depending on who you take with you. There’s nothing better than hanging out with your family or your good buddies away from home. When on vacation, there is no one around to distract you while you have a conversation, there is no need to worry about forgetting to say or do something with your family or friends, since it’s not like they will just leave. Also, vacations are a perfect time to enjoy activities such as fishing, hiking, biking, jogging, bonfires, cruising, or other activities together.
In taking a vacation, you also have an opportune chance to try and see new things. Vacations always come with plenty of surprises, and there’s always that story that you can tell everyone about when you come back. Also, you can try going to different places around the area. If you are staying at Florida, try going to Disneyworld. Check some places out. Even if you don’t like what you see, you know what’s there. Also in trying new things, it keeps you away from activities that negatively impact you such as drugs and alcohol, gang activities, and other illegal activities.
In short, taking a vacation helps reduce stress, keeping you emotionally healthy. Vacations also help you connect with your friends and family, to rekindle the relationship, or just enhance it. Vacations also give you an opportunity to see the world outside of your daily community, which lets you see and experience great things.

Saying Hello to Fate

Hunter’s speech 

I believe that everything happens for a reason. The decisions we make, for better or for worse, develop who we are and who we are meant to be. Struggles and challenges are nothing but an epiphany for us, because they strengthen our character, and teach us endurance. Faith is the most meaningful word there is, because it is the word that measures where we are going in our lives. Without this faith, my life would be on the fast track to nowhere.
I believe everything happens for a reason, because this phrase is a piece of who I am, and who I will become. Growing up, most of my memories are based on just my mother and me. When I was three, my mother married into an unhappy marriage. Three years later, my sister was born, who made circumstances even more stressful. Even at the tender age of six, I was a parent figure for her. A couple days before my ninth birthday, I knew my parents were getting divorced. Being so young, this was really hard on me; he was the only dad I knew, and I was aware my mom didn’t have a steady paycheck. Because of the struggles I was dealing with, my grandparents started taking me to church, where I went until I was fourteen. If they all hadn’t have made this decision for me at a young age, I think my way of thinking and believing would be completely different. Everything I went through those years made me believe more and more everyday that eventually things would get better; and eventually, they did.
I’ve learned that my choices today reflect who I will be tomorrow. They act as a mirror outside of me that shows the reflection of my own strengths and weaknesses. With each weakness that is exposed and faced, I become the person I should, and want, to be. With this in mind, I believe that without the wisdom and guidance of failure and pain, our accomplishments would not be as inspiring, and would not feel so fulfilling. The things that happen to us throughout our lifetime, we have no control over. Some people choose to take these struggles, and let them break them down. I believe everyone does this at one point, but I try to take these, and use them to my advantage. I can’t change the way of life, all I can do is change the way I perceive and use it.
I believe everything happens for a reason, because wisdom can only come from experience. It is easy to judge and criticize something you have never been through; but when God throws obstacles in your way, you become more compassionate towards other people with obstacles. When I was twelve, I met someone who ended up being a huge part of my life. He was one of my best friends, and the main person who had an influence on me for a few years. Coming from an unsteady background filled with drugs and alcohol, he had basically given up on life, even in seventh grade. Many times he tried to drag me down into how he was feeling, and being young and naïve, I felt I had to fix everything. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I realized I had learned two things from this person; compassion for people despite all circumstances, and also my independence to find my own life, and stand up for what I know is right. I learned that if someone does not go through complications, and does not learn how to get through them successfully, these issues will continue to appear in their life, and make things much more complex than needed.
Along with the negative things strengthening you, I also believe positive things have the same affect. When I accomplish something I’ve worked hard at, I am inspired and driven to work harder, and accomplish more. Life has a mix of ups and downs, and it’s important to me to look at each individual situation God has given me, and try to work with that to get where I want to be.
I believe everything happens for a reason, because my life is made out of all the pieces that have happened to me, good and bad. Looking back on those struggles, I’m not always proud of how I handled the situations, and I accept that sometimes I don’t know what to do. But with the actions I’ve taken, or haven’t taken, the consequences have led me to my life, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that. This is why I believe, in all aspects, that everything happens for a reason.

This I Believe
Same Sex Marriage

Caitlinn’s speech

There are two people walking down the street holding hands. They sneak a kiss and are rewarded with dirty glares and crude remarks from others. They are homosexuals. Homosexuality is when you like just the same sex, and heterosexuality is when you like only the opposite sex. There is also bisexuality where you like both males and females. It is all the same to me. You should be able to love whoever you want to.
Love is love… is it not? Whether you’re black, white, Asian, bisexual, transsexual, or heterosexual, the affection stays the same. Love doesn’t become wrong and tainted just because you’re a man who adores another man or a woman who adores another woman. Carl Jung a famous Swiss psychiatrist says, “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” Love can transform you, if you care about a person with all of your heart you can transform for them. Does it really matter if you’re a hetero or a homosexual couple?
Whether you’re in a relationship with a male, female or both, it doesn’t mean you’re this nasty person that when someone touched you they become gay too. Homosexuality is not a disease. You can’t contract it. James Baldwin a famous black author who is also homosexual says, “Everybody’s journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality.” I completely agree. We do not have some fatal disease. We are Americans and we have the same feelings so why should laws restrict our freedom to marry whomever we want? The only state that will allow same sex marriage is Massachusetts. It’s legal in The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, and South Africa also. Other states that will allow you to get a civil union or domestic partnership, which is like marriage but without the marriage certificate, are New Jersey, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, and just recently California. These are the only states that will acknowledge the fact gay people may want to get married too.
Since these states are the only ones that allow you to obtain anything close to a marriage certificate it’s really not that important because even if you get married or obtain a civil union or domestic partnership you are still not able to leave your estate or money to your spouse in your will, claim social security, get a joint income tax return like married hetero couples because of the laws against same sex marriage. We are denied so many of our rights because we dare to say, “Hey, I’m different and I’m happy with that!” Everyone knows it exists and most people are okay with it. Almost everybody at one point in their lives will know, met, or make friends with a homosexual person.
The people of this world are fascinated with homosexuals and there are several movies and t.v. series across the world featuring gay and lesbian couples. The most famous movie would be Brokeback Mountain starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal that came out in 2005. Another movie is Prom Queen which came out in 2003 in Canada. A t.v. series in the United Kingdom about gays is Queer as Folk. A movie with a lesbian couple in it would be The Jane Austen Book Club based on the novel by Karen Joy Fowler in 2007. All across the world homosexuality is considered an issue when really it isn’t. Everybody’s curiosity about gays and lesbians and will always be there. We may have some minor differences as in I’m blonde and your brunette but other than that we are exactly the same. So why is it so easy to classify being homosexual as being different. If homosexuality was what we considered to be right and heterosexuality was what we thought of as different… how would you feel to be the one at the butt of everyone’s jokes and taunts? Just think about that before you decide to make fun of someone for being homosexual or bisexual.

Krista’s speech

I believe life is not fair. Life being unfair teaches you lessons in life itself. There are certain things that we are put through on this earth to make us the people that we are, and mold us into the people we are meant to become.

Throughout my sixteen years of life I have learn a lot from life not being fair. One thing that I have recently endured was when I was fifteen years old. I was diagnosed with Panic Disorder, something I used to consider not fair and maybe to this day somewhat still isn’t, but that’s life, and if it wasn’t for Panic Disorder I would not be the person I am today. I went through many painful and rough times over the past eight years, and not only with Panic Disorder. You learn at times things get tough, but tough times don’t always last; tough people do. Panic Disorder was dealt in my cards and there’s a reason that it was given to me. I consider myself a stronger person today because of my Panic Disorder. Throughout my whole experience I was just searching for a so called normality when in fact I never appreciated myself for who I truly am, Krista, a strong, independent women that has Panic Disorder. Instead of looking at the glass half full I always viewed it as half empty, when really by having Panic Disorder I gained many great traits. Sometimes stepping back and taking a minute to view things a different way can help you understand the situation or work through it.

I always was told that I cannot let my disorder control me, and for the longest time in my life, it did. I wouldn’t leave the house for weeks on end because I had such a fear built up inside me that needed to be let out. I needed to feel free, to feel as if I was safe. The only problem with what I wanted was I couldn’t gain the strength to push through to make the first step. I needed to be pushed, but I learned sometimes you don’t always have someone there to push you. In my life I had always had the background noise of dealing with my parents arguing continually. This started to occur more and more often when my Panic Disorder came out. I understood that my parents had been both hurting and were dealing with a rough time in there life, and I knew that I would have to grow up at a young age to get through life, or else I would be sitting there waiting for my parents to come around, and waiting for them is like waiting for a lifetime. So this is where I’m forced to push myself. You might have to find the tools to push yourself. I had to be pushed to the point where I would do something for myself, because I didn’t have the people there to do it for me.

On occasion life may come at you hard, but what separates the strong and the weak is how you handle yourself in certain situations. There is no dependence that can be sure but the dependence upon oneself. I believe the weak people in this world ultimately let things break them down and run away from their problems. The stronger people of this world find that strength to keep going deep down inside them, and step up and take control. During the rough times in my life, I continued to lose faith. I think having faith is an important part of life, but I don’t blame you if you feel as if at times you lose faith. I found myself losing faith in a certain point in my life so one day I went to the store and got materials to make a bracelet which contained the word “Faith” on it. After I had bought my materials I had gone back home and worked on the bracelet until it was finished. I had gone through my whole day with such a high because I felt if I wore this bracelet I had faith. When the day was over and I was about to go to bed, my bracelet broke. At first I stopped what I was doing and just sat there, I felt as if I had lost a part of me and felt like crying. Then I looked down to pick up the piece of my bracelet to then go fix it and perfectly placed on the floor was this “ F A I T H” I could not find the string, beads, or the other letters that had spelled out my name next to it, just the word “ F A I T H”. It was then when I realized that faith is not contained in a bracelet, but it lies within the heart.

Every so often I think to myself what a horrible thing to deal with or go through, Panic Disorder and my parents, but in the end I know people learn and grow from their struggles, just like I did. People understand life isn’t fair, you hear it all the time, but the problem is people do not except that life is not fair. I think people focus on so much of the negative in life that they never stop and look at the positive things that we are blessed with. Each time a door closes the rest of the world opens up. All we need to do is stop pounding on the door that just closed, turn around—which puts the door behind us—and welcome the largeness of life that now lies open to us. The door that just closed kept us from entering a room, but what now lies before us is the rest of reality. We need to welcome that reality and believe in it.

God does everything for a reason. I know each person has a set out plan for them, and I know God wouldn’t put anyone through anything they could not handle. Things may be super tough, but in the end you can walk away with two things, knowledge and strength for the next obstacle you may face. I also think life not being fair is what makes it so interesting. If we were handed everything on a silver platter things would get boring, no one would work for anything, and most importantly we wouldn’t learn anything. That certain challenge in life would be taken away. Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. People tend to dwell on the things they cannot control, which can make things in life rough.

I do not want people to think life is not a fun experience, nor do I want people to take from it that once you get over and obstacle you’re finished with rough times, they always occur no matter what you may have just faced. The beauty of life is that it hands you many hardships in which you have to find your strength. I think of life as an hour glass glued to the table, you only get a certain amount of time on this earth and I think we should live it to the best of our abilities, no matter what our given situation is. Let you life speak.

 Aaron’s speech

I Believe………In happiness

You need happiness in your life because it makes life so much better. If in your life you suddenly lose happiness, you feel alone, left out or perhaps angry or frustrated. Happiness can make even the worst of feelings float away and become non-important. Happiness is also good for the well being of people. For instance if you are happy all of the time you rarely have neck aches, back aches, or headaches, that is because happiness works as a stress reliever, easing your aches and pains due to stress, and helping the body work more in sync with itself.

If you are happy it could help you in your personal life also because people would be more willing to be your friends and be around you, versus someone who is angry all of the time and doesn’t have happiness in their life, people tend to be intimidated by their attitude and don’t usually want to be around them. Happiness can also influence the way you approach certain events that come up in your life. If you are a person that always has a bad attitude then you will more than likely see things as the worst it could possibly be. Whereas if you are a person with a good attitude then there is a better possibility that you will approach your problems with a clearer head and won’t get as upset and solve the matter in a calm collective manner.

Happiness can also work to help the human body maintain a clearer mind by allowing outside negative energy to disappear and permits the psyche to focus on matters at hand rather than focusing on the negative thoughts that can be associated with unhappiness. My belief in happiness has helped me through many times in my life whether it was the death of a family member or just a bad day. Throughout my life I have discovered that I would rather spend my energy being happy than waste my energy being upset. Happiness however is a state of mind and it is up to the person pursuing it to choose to live a happy life.

Josh’s speech 

You always have an option. The reason why I believe in this phrase is because when I was in trouble I felt like there was no way out. I kept on believing that I would never get out of trouble and have my life back. But that thinking got me put in lockup. When I got placed in detention I really felt like my life was heading in the wrong direction and at that time I felt like I could not switch it around to the right direction. But what really didn’t help were my parents leaving me to rot in this place. In addition to that my parents didn’t even write me to see if I was ok and that ended up making me feel worse.
And when I was feeling this way for the longest time I thought to myself dang I really do have to do this on my own. I didn’t think I could do anything for the longest time when I was feeling this way in the detention program. So for many days I was not making my days and the reason why was because I was not meeting the requirements of the point system and the point system was based on your day so that is why I didn’t make my days there. And the reason why I had this bad behavior is because I felt like no one was there for me. And to tell you the truth I was scared out of my mind because I really didn’t know what to do and plus this was my first time getting locked up.
So one day I was sitting in the Day room. The Dayroom is a place where the whole group can be together and sit and do homework and do what staff directs you to do. And most of the time the group would chill in the day room because the rooms were not great and what I mean by not great is that it was a concrete brick room with a metal toilet and a brick block to sleep on between a little blue thin mattress with a little small window to look outside of. And one day I was sleeping in my room because I got bored out in the dayroom because there was not much you could do in there so I laid down on my concrete block bed with a thin blue mattress between me and the block and I was laying there just staring out the window thinking to myself what did I do and why am I throwing my life away for this and was it really worth it? So then when I was asking myself these questions in my head the buzzer suddenly went off and then I woke up to reality and heard staff talking through the intercom just rate above my head with a little silver button that you had to press to say something back. So then I pressed the button above my head and said in the intercom what and then I let go of the button so I could hear staff talk. Then when I did let go staff said you got a letter so then when I heard that I jumped out of my so called bed and hurried to my door and waited for the door to click to lead me out of my room so I could be ready when the door unlocked.
Then when the door unlocked I went in the dayroom and when I arrived in the dayroom staff came out of the control room and told me that I could look at them because when the control door opens you cannot look that way because they might think you were trying to look in the control room and if you did you would get points taken away and that could cause you to lose your day and basically when you’re locked up you need to make your days to get out of there. So anyway staff handed me the letter and I opened it and had them check it to see if there was no contraband in it. Then when they checked I read it and the person that wrote me said don’t worry Josh there’s always options no matter where you go. And when I read that suddenly everything got brighter for me because I was glad that someone wrote me and then that phrase came to be realistic to me when I started making my days and staff rumors were saying that I was about to leave and end up going to foster care and then sooner or later it did happen. And when I left that phrase ended up meaning something to me because it helped me through my experience that gave me a positive outlook on life in a way. And from what I told you there is an option no matter where you go you just got to look in the right spot and when you do you know you’re ready to take a step forward. Also I hope you learn from this and don’t end up making the same mistakes I made and also where I went was not that bad and there was nothing cool about going there and please don’t think of me bragging about this because that was not my intention, my intention was for the peaple that are getting in trouble to stop what they are doing because if they don’t not only that person will get hurt but also their family and the peaple that care about that person also.

Tom’s speech 

Attitude

I believe in attitude. Attitude influences your life and others. If your attitude is bad and you talk down to people, then you’re changing their mood. Attitude can be a bad thing at times but normally a very good thing. When things get you down what happens to your attitude? You start to get upset or angry and some people get violent or just quit and don’t say or do anything. Everyone has their own way to deal with things.
But what happens to your attitude when things are going your way? You start to feel happy, upbeat and like you can do anything. In other words you have this confidence about you that no one can take away. When you have that kind of confidence people may look at you in a whole different way. For example when I thought life was at its worst was when I turned 14. I had the attitude that nothing can get worse, and then one day it all got worse. I was put on probation for the first time in my life and I thought that I was going nowhere and was going to be nothing. It took me a very long time to realize life could be worse. I got out of trouble and took responsibility for my actions by working to change my attitude; I realized life is not that bad. I don’t have it as bad as some of the other kids do out there. I’m close to graduating, I have a job, and I plan on going into the military.
I believe in attitude. If you carry yourself well at an important event like a job interview the boss might hire you for the job over a person that has an attitude like I don’t care about anything. Your attitude can take you a long way or it can take you nowhere. With an attitude towards life that everything could be a lot worse you will go somewhere great. With the attitude towards life that nothing can get any worse you will go nowhere. I’ve witnessed this kind of attitude from a family member of mine. When he was a teenager he had the attitude towards life that nothing can get worse and he has gone nowhere. He has been in prison since he was 19 years old; he just got out after turning 25. Your attitude is everything; everything that any one does is inspired by their attitude and how they feel. Other people’s attitudes are affected by your attitude also. I have been in a bad mood before and my attitude has changed others’ moods. This is very common. Attitude is based on your mood and the way you carry yourself.
I believe in attitude.

Listen to Kendra’s speech here 

I believe in art. By art I don’t just mean painting and drawing, I also mean poetry and music. In my mind all these things are a type of art. Different types of art have been used for as long as humans have been around. There are hieroglyphics to paintings on pottery, to music and poems. Each form of art can tell a story, express a feeling, or give us some sort of glimpse into the past and how people used to live. Not only is it a way of expression, but it can also help people through a hard time in their life. I’ve found that art has helped me and some of my friends through certain difficulties.

Up until about my sophomore year everything seemed to be going good. But once I got into tenth grade a friend of mine, who was like a brother to me, passed away. I had grown up with him and he was someone that was an important part of my life. I found it unfair that he had died when he was so young. Music, poetry, and drawing became a big part of my life after that, I started listening to music whenever I got the chance and I would find pictures that I wanted to draw. The pictures that I found were usually “happy” pictures but when I drew them I gave them a dark side. This was only one way that the way I was feeling was let out.

Poetry is something I got into doing once the drawing stopped helping me express the pain that I was feeling. At first the only thing I did was read poems, but eventually I started writing my own. It was the only way, at the time; I could get out my feelings without actually telling people what was going on. Also, by doing these things I became closer to some of my friends that were going through similar situations. They were also using art as a way to show the pain that they were feeling.

All these different kinds of art usually just start as something small but eventually they erupt into something bigger. For example, drawings and paintings start as an image in a persons mind and once on the piece of paper or canvas they become something bigger and a lot of the times something beautiful. Poetry is a feeling put on paper that tells a story of one feeling by one person, and music is simply a type of a poem put to music. Art has always been around and it’s something I think is here to stay.

Listen to Alex’s speech here

I never believed the words” I love you” when I was younger. I wonder why I never understood the words “I love you” they were told to me. But then my thinking changed when my dad would say “I love you” to my mom. What is the word I love you, I thought to myself. Well when I was little my mom and dad obviously loved one another. They proved that by getting married and they were marred for 14 years until they got a divorces, This showed me that love must not be real to them, so what was love? I wondered, should I not love? I thought to myself, was love a bad thing to have.

So when I was in 7th grade I met this kid named Kyle. I thought he was nice and charming. So I hung out with him and I got to know him. We both liked to do the same things. We liked to go snowboarding, and to the moves. I liked hanging out with him, I had so much fun. I thought to myself, is this love or what? Or is this a stage that a girl in 7th grade girl goes through, what was it? When we went out one night to the movies he said that he loved me and that made me feel like I was special, so I said it back. After three more weeks we went snowboarding and we went on all the hills. But when it got close to dark I let him go off on the hill with some friends. I was happy that I was having fun with him, I guessed that I really loved him because I was happy. My friend Heather and I went on the hill that he went on to see if he was going to do a trick, but what I saw was him kissing another girl. I think he did it just because I was not ready to kiss him but it hurt me. It was not love, love is not real, I thought in my head. If that was love Kyle would not do that to you, also the word I love should mean they love you with all their heart. also you should not say I love you if you don’t mean it. I went home crying to my mom. She told me that he was not worth it, What I thought was the end of all love for me so that meant that I never wanted to date a boy again. For him being the first boy that I liked and not some kindergarten crush, I really thought that I loved him..

Well I went on throughout my life and I had friends with boyfriends and it didn’t bother me at all, not even when my mom met this guy named Matt. Matt was my mom’s boyfriend. I was glad that she met someone because after my mom and dad divorcesd it made her pretty sad until Matt came. I still didn’t believe in love. When someone asked me out I’d say “no”. My mom felt pretty bad for me and told me that I will have to give another try, but I didn’t want to.

Last year in 8th grade it felt great to go to a school where you are the bigger kid in the school. I thought that it would be fun. I would go to all the home football games that they had, and I did.
It got exciting? when this kid all of sudden just came out of nowhere and started to hang out, it kind of sacred me until I found out he ? he was my friend that I knew from the bus. I asked him why he was hanging out with me. He told me that he liked me. I thought wow that’s “cool because I liked him to so that was kind of great that he liked me but when he asked me out, I kind of stopped and had nothing to say. I didn’t know what to say, so many things where going through my head. I just didn’t know what to tell him and all of a sudden the word ”yes’’ came out of my mouth. It was the greatest day of my life I thought.

Cameron and I are still dating today and we have been for at least a year and 7 months. We have so much fun together. We go snowboarding and to the movies, just about every thing we do is fun. So I do believe in love, BUT does it last forever? When I say this I mean that love is out there and it will come, but let it take it time, I still have to.

Listen to Amber’s speech here 

I believe in expression through art and poetry. It can help a person come to grasp with inner feelings and emotions. Many people express their emotions through pictures and poems. Edgar Allen Poe wrote poems about the misfortunes in his life. Picasso used art as a vent for his emotions. People use art and poetry to express themselves daily. Many people write love poems to a person they admire. Some people draw morbid pictures when they feel depressed. It is a common way to relieve one’s emotions and allows someone to feel better about themselves. Both art and poetry come from within a person. I express myself through art and poetry a lot.
I was diagnosed with ADHD in third grade. The particular type of the disorder that I had could possibly cause antisocialness, and depression. The “possibly” never applied to me for I had all of the symptoms. Few people were my friends and the other kids always picked on me for being so active and thin. Even though I did well in school some of my teachers still didn’t like me, for the same reasons as the other kids. Of course, this led to depression. During this dark phase of my life I found salvation in two forms: video games and poetry. I vented my loneliness by playing complicated games that took my mind off of life. It worked, until my games ran out. Soon, poetry took the place of my games. I wrote poems that reflected the inner me, the creature within this hollowed costume. A lot of my poems were either glum or reflected my love of games or the few friends I had. Relief always accompanied a poem I wrote. I had finally moved pain off my chest and onto paper. It made my cold heart warmer, but it wasn’t enough to free me from my bindings.
Poetry helped to contain any raging emotions I had. This became very helpful. I had gotten really mad at my mom after one of my seventh grade concerts. I carved up our wood work with knives and fingernails, because I never found a true way to vent my anger. My mom reprimanded me for this, like a normal parent. Her words caused my anger to rise once more. I stormed off into my room, to write. I found myself writing a poem about the pain and anger I felt. This showed me how foolish I was. After writing this, I returned to my mom’s side, apologizing for carving everything. Deep down, I was really apologizing for the hatred I had felt in those moments of punishment.
In my hatred of cruel reality I began to daydream. Through these visions, I found an even greater salvation to me: drawing. I began to yearn to be able to draw. Once in high school, I had finally found more friends, some of which taught me how to draw. Once capable, I began to draw my daydreams. This pushed me forward, making me more confident. Whenever I was angry, corpses littered the paper or a new misfortune befell one of the people I drew. Death, war, vampiresses; all part of my anger and grief. When happy, people would be kissing or just having fun. I never connected what I drew to my emotions, until it was drawn. I would realize that I had actually been really angry, but now I was not. I could breath easier and calmer. Now I was happy once more.
Drawing, I found, could allow me to see my emotions and grasp them. There was a time I was extremely grateful for this. You see, my grandma had been dying for years, and it irritated me. She was in so much pain, but just couldn’t die. Just seeing her began to frustrate me internally. When she actually was entering death I was amazed to find myself sad and yearning. I had been prepared for this day for years, but I found myself wanting her to respond to me being in that hospital room. Though I did find myself sad, a half of me still found happiness that her pain was going to end soon. My emotions were so drastically opposite that I eventually didn’t know what to feel. I came home and drew a picture. The picture was split; half happy, half sad. Once done, I felt relief. I now understood my emotions. My body calmed and I became neutral; neither happy, nor sad, just contempt. That night my grandma was gone, and I was fine with it. Drawing that picture allowed me to finally let my grandma go. I wrote a death related poem a few days before her funeral, it was the last testament of what I felt for her.
Writing poetry helps people get their minds organized. A lot of poetry starts out as just describing what one feels, and then they erupt on that feeling. Pictures start out as what images you see in your mind; normally these pictures reflect what you feel at the time. I know I draw a lot, sometimes for fun, sometimes for expression. I also write poetry, and unless it was an assigned poem, it is expressing my emotions. I let a piece of me flow into my pictures and poems to help me see and organize my feelings. How do you express yourself?