Lost In Words
I remember yelling “Amma, NO!” almost every night in middle school when my mother would tell me to close the book I was reading and turn off the bedroom lights just as my curfew passed. Despite my outward irritation, I had a plan: I would listen for the door of my parents’ room to close and turn the lights back on and continue reading. This worked until my dad caught me and said that if he ever found me reading past my bedtime, he would take my book away. After that, I learned to keep another book under my pillow and read it under my covers with a flashlight. As a 12 year old, that was the most rebellious thing I had ever done.
Reading avidly expanded my curiosity levels. My parents mentioned to me that I was also very curious as a kid too. I would always ask questions because I wanted to know why things are a certain way. Why is the sky blue? Why can’t fish breathe outside water? What is air made out of? How does the earth revolve around the sun? I would bombard my parents with all the how’s, why’s, and what’s until I got an answer that fully satisfied me. Now, I recognize that my tendency to ask such questions stems from my genuine interest to learn and acquire more knowledge. That is why school has always been something I look forward to because it is literally the center for learning. I genuinely enjoy walking into class and learning about new topics.
In my biology class, I learned about the side effects of medicinal drugs on the brain. After that class, I reached out to one of my friends who takes prescription pills for migraines. I asked her to look into the side effects of the medicines that she was taking so she can obtain more knowledge about the drugs she was intaking and use them wisely. With math, I try to incorporate it in simple things by replacing whole numbers with equations that would derive that whole number. Once, when I was in a car, I saw a speed limit sign of 35mph. So, I made up a simple algebraic equation, 2x-10=60, where x would be equal to 35. This way, I can make math a part of my daily activities which not only improves my mental math skills but also makes things interesting in a fun way. Overall, similar to how reading story books gives me a sense of purpose outside the fictional world, I try and identify the real life connections to the lessons I learn.
I was in 7th grade and the release of a brand new dystopian novel was the talk among my friend group. The main characters of the book were sixteen year old teenagers who discover the illicit and unfair laws of their society and decide to overthrow the government in place. All my friends had gotten their copy and I was yet to convince my parents. “Appa! Amma! Can you please please please buy me the latest Divergent book? All my friends have it and I too want to read it very badly. Please?”, I begged them. My dad simply replied, “Ask your Mom.” I looked at my mom with pleading eyes and she said, “If you get a 100 on the next math exam, I’ll buy you the book.” I was mildly upset because math was not my strongest subject. I put all my effort into studying for that test for the next few weeks because I wanted to try my best for that book. Fortunately, all my hard work paid off and I received a 100 on the test. My parents, true to their word, bought me the book. After weeks of waiting, I finally got my hands around Divergent and it was like I could finally breathe. My heart was beating fast as I opened the book and I devoured every single page of this book and finished reading it in a matter of days.
The book was beautifully written and I enjoyed every minute of reading it. It gained a special place in my heart because it made me feel complete. It had various outstanding scenes but there was one specific part that stuck out to me. Tris, the protagonist, zip lines from one end of the city to the other end, and the entire time I felt as if I was with her on the zip line. Tris’s fearless attitude inspired me to think more ambitiously. I felt as if my mind had opened; I felt free. That was the moment I realized that there was nothing that I couldn’t do in a world full of opportunities. This cognizance made me feel whole.
Ever since reading this book, I gained a special interest in dystopian literature. In addition to the Divergent Series, I added Hunger Games Trilogy, Maze Runner Series, The Chemical Garden Trilogy, 1984, Brave New World, The Giver, and Delirium Series to my Dystopian Novels collection. Rebellion and oppression were the common themes of these books. The people in these societies are kept under the impression that their life is perfect in that futuristic form of society. That is until the young adult misfits realize that their utopia is indeed an illusion meant to control its citizens. They realize that it is a deeply flawed society they live in and try to break free from the oppression by rebelling against the government in charge.
I realized that the themes found in these books serve as a parallel to the society I currently live in. When I was younger, I used to think that I lived in a perfect world with unicorns and rainbows but as I grew older, I started to see the cracks and defects of the world I live in today. I learned about Slavery, Civil Rights Movement, Gay and Queer Rights Movements, the Holocaust, and Islamophobia to begin with. I came into the knowledge of all the injustices and horrors happening everywhere and suddenly this world wasn’t filled with sunshine and flowers anymore. People were being discriminated against due to their race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion. I felt very unsettled because it is so unfair that people face prejudice for expressing themselves. My friends who had similar insights as they were growing up too and we all felt like we had to rise up and do something to make this world a better place to live in. I am proud to be part of a generation that actively use their voices to speak against all the bigotry and discrimination happening in the world.
Ever since junior year of high school, work from school and extracurricular activities occupied a large part of my time which decreased the number of hours I buried my nose into books. But I still actively involved myself in social issues and kept myself updated with the world news. My friends and I created a club called TELL (Think Educate Listen and Learn), a group focused on increasing awareness about current issues in society. We strived to hear the stories of people affected by injustice as opposed to relying on societal stereotypes. We planned social outreach events and protests for Gun Control, Climate Change, Gender Equality, and Racial Equality. We hosted our school’s first cultural fashion show highlighting the different cultures in our school. We also hosted an event called RISE where a conference of all the school’s social justice groups. Additionally, we conducted weekly discussions about matters pertaining to immigrants, minorities and the disabled. Overall, TELL gave me an opportunity to help create an impact in this world and I hope to continue being an agent of change.
From time to time when I lose motivation, I pick a book and start to read it. This simple action of absorbing the written words on a page motivates me, with reminders of endless opportunities of this world. My quest for knowledge made me realize that I can never run out of subjects to learn. I am just a single book in a big library that consists of all the information in this sphere. This attitude has humbled me and helped me look at life in a positive light because my life consists of multiple opportunities. I know that I can truly do whatever I want, whether it be revolutionizing the world or learning something new, as long as I set my mind to it.
