More
Important Than Fear
By
Elizabeth Horner
Standing
on a street in New York is a scary thing. For someone who is used to
the way sunlight pools on green grass, warms the bark of trees to a
warmer shade of brown, turns the golden heads of dandelions from
weeds into beautiful flowers--- it is weird to see the sky so white,
a background screen for the metal and glass sky-scrapers of the city.
Not
to mention, it is loud here. Cars move slowly, constantly having to
inch their way around pedestrians, so there is not the whoosh sound
of traffic. Instead, they make up for it by honking--- continuing the
eager conversation they’ve been having with the construction drills
who grind their teeth against the street.
And
yet, in spite of New York’s alien look, sound, and energy, I can
understand why people get entranced by it. There’s something
special about coming into contact with the crowds, the smells of
different cuisines, the musics of different passions, that makes one
feel as if they have been fully born into the world. On one hand, a
person realizes that the architectural giants casting shadows over
them are signs of their own smallness. On the other hand, the idea
for the building, the construction of it, all of the business that
goes on inside it is the work of man. In this place of extremes, one
can be, simultaneously, conqueror and conquered.
It’s
something I am incredibly lucky to experience. And while a lot of
events have contributed to my admission into New York University---
not the least of which has been an attention to my school work, and
the support of my parents--- if it weren’t for overcoming one
obstacle, my own fear, than I wouldn’t have this chance to study
the Big Apple as the setting of my own life, not just that of
thousands of books and movies.
During
my senior year of high school, I could probably have gone around
tracing my comfort zone with a compass and some white chalk. I’d
lived in the same town my entire life, had, more or less, stuck to
the same school district, and while some of my friendships tended to
ebb and flow, they usually followed slow transitions that stopped me
from getting spooked. Which is why it came as an incredible shock to
me--- and to my nearest friends and family--- when I made the
decision to not only go to a school based out of the “Capitol of
the World”, but to spend my freshman year in a study abroad program
in London.
It
had the feel of a spur-of-the-moment decision in spite of being a
thought-out choice. My hopes of a future in publishing could only be
realized if I could make connections, start interning, and be in a
good place to get a job at one of the publishing houses after
graduating. For that, I needed a big city. In addition, New York is a
cultural center, where I would no doubt be exposed to greater minds,
and more sophisticated writers, than I could otherwise have hoped to
emulate.
Of
course, it is still up in the air as to whether I will succeed or
not--- but for the moment I’m very happy with the world outside my
comfort zone, with all these things and people I’ve always loved,
but didn’t know that I loved because I hadn’t encountered them
yet.
And I
want others, especially teens, getting ready to embark on new stages
in their lives to really consider this: it’s important to think
through the consequences of our actions, to know their feel and
weight as if they were a stone we were preparing to drop into the
calm pond of our lives. And anything that comes as a big risk--- to
your health, to your self-esteem, to your moral values--- might best
be reconsidered.
But,
if the only thing that is keeping you back from realizing a dream is
a fear built more on itself than on reality, then be aware that the
risk might come in the form of what you are passing up--- all the
things you are denying yourself. How many times have we heard clichés
about life being too short? The truth is, it could stretch on
forever--- you could watch a million suns sink below the horizon and
then inch upwards again--- and yet, if you resign yourself to the
same routine, and the familiar paths that you have already walked so
many times as to have created a trench, then life is both forever and
one day. It could go on endlessly because there are no new
beginnings.
In
the end, I don’t believe that life is too short. I believe it is
too short not to do the things you want to do, to not pursue your
dreams while they are available. Most of all, I believe that the best
things this world has to offer are the ones that prove more important
than our fear.
|