Have you ever thought of what we are made of, what makes us who we are? Scientists all over the world are scratching their heads at this one question, constantly trying to find a solution. The String Theory is one idea that resounds with me. The theory in general describes that a ‘string’ makes up a quark, which in turn makes up a proton or neutron, which then creates an atom, and then, essentially, the world. I’d like to think that moments in my life have made me who I am, just like the little strings that make up the atom. Small, yet significant.

Like the String Theory, and the world, there are endless possibilities in life, and the future seems to be indefinite. Like every child, I can remember feeling the need to grow up as fast as possible, when school and fun were one, and when life was full of happy endings. However, being a high school student changes all that, as grades and competition among friends becomes the focus of life. On paper, I’m a scholar and a talented student, but I don’t stop there. Grades and awards cannot define who I am. I’m a collection of different heritages and European ethnicities, and each and every one of them helps play a role in who I am today. I could not live without some form of literature, and covet I mythology of any kind. All of these interests are only small pieces of the strings that make me who I am.

One moment in time can drastically change a life, no matter how long or short it is. One moment could throw the strings that make up life out of balance, forever changing the path of that life. As I think about these types of moments, one manages to surmount all the others. Last year, after years of uncertainty and confusion, I made the decision to pack up my life as a senior at my high school in Maine, and move half way across the country to South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to finish my last year of high school under my mother’s care. Most said that making a decision like this would be detrimental to my education and that it would make my life unnecessarily challenging, and I agreed with them. However, after moving to this new state, this new town, and this new school, I began to change my opinion. That decision allowed me to experience a copious amount of new cultures and activities and gave me the ability to meet hundreds of new people who have their own collections of strings to share with the world. So when someone says, ‘How could you?’ I say, ‘How could I not?’ After all, there are strings to be made.

For everyone has strings; it’s what you create with them that defines you.