It’s hard to summarize what matters to me in an essay limited to only 2500 words. I doubt I would find it easier if there was no limit at all. Sometimes I lose sight of what’s important and sometimes I pay too much attention to things that I have no reason to worry about. When it’s all said and done, what is important to me? Family? Friends? Health and wellbeing? Obviously.
The things that matter to me are all around us. Everyday, most people overlook them, and I am constantly reminded I have them. They are the little things that make my day go smoothly. Because most everyone adjusts to utilizing such seemingly ordinary possessions, it’s easy to forget how lucky we are to have them. For example, every day, I get out of school at 1:00 and walk out to the senior parking lot, where I know there will be a car waiting for me that I can put my key in, and have immediately start. Since just about everyone I know my age is as privileged as I am, I can safely assume they think nothing of it when they turn the key and put the car in gear. I didn’t realize how nice it was to have an air conditioned car in the summer until I saw a kid a few years younger than me riding his bike in what must have been almost 100 degrees.
Another thing I have recently tried my best to avoid overlooking is having a cell phone. Again, many kids are lucky enough to get one, but if you’re over the age of 13, live in Blue Valley, and don’t have a cell phone, you’re practically lame. This is a sad truth, but a truth nonetheless. Recently, my father told me if someone had told him, the year he got married, in 1980, that before I would graduate from high school, there would be a device that allows people to talk to anyone in the world, small enough to fit in your pocket, he would have laughed. That made me stop and think about how much different life must have been when he was my age. I can’t imagine having one black and white TV in the entire house, a rotary phone only allowing awkward late night phone conversations consisting of “Is so and so there?”.
So, on the whole, I am thankful for everything most people would be, as well as many other things that are overlooked every day.