FINAL Coming of Age

“New school new me!” Same line almost everyone says to start the new school year. It’s the time where you can have a fresh start, new image, new expectations and new plans. Well this whole “new” experience is not what I’ve expected. It’s always tough having an older sister due to the fact that people see me being a magnacumlaude, focus and time managing type of girl. Being the total opposite has made things harder and self-cautious about myself. 

            I started my years at Moanalua during the summer in color guard. I should have known joining guard was when people would start to notice I’m Danali’s little sister. Although I didn’t mind, being a freshman your first goal was to be known for something. Going through my first year of high school I’ve made friendships, went through new experience and try to do what every teenager does in high school, to find themselves. The fact that teachers and other students recognize my last name and my face it’s hard to find who I really am and where I belong. Being called “Mini Danali” from my perspective isn’t very well.  As I was growing up, I was taught to always be myself and to not let anyone change who I really am, For having the same title following me around made me become somebody that I’m not.

Having to live in a Asian family good grades is a must to have. Although it may sound so stereotype it’s true. Since being the youngest I have a lot of standards to reach. As first semester grades came in, it’s a must to show it to my uncle. Once he glanced at the paper is eyes turn to worry saying “What wrong with your grades? Your sister never has these grades!” from that moment on I needed to be better then her, my life has become a competition. I was too busy trying to do everything better then her just so people would be proud of me. It came to a point that I wasn’t really me, and from then on realized that I need to find out who this “me” person I’ve been wanting to be for so long.

 Who am I? What am I doing? How did I get here? I’m not anywhere near to answering any of these questions. I know living in the shadow of my sister isn’t how I planned my high school career to be like, however as much as I know that I’ve done a lot through out this past school years I know that there is more to come, before I can even touch these questions I need to start worry about myself first and not what people want from me, After this experience I know now to not care about what people think and what people see me as. I need to know who I really am for me to really make decisions in life. There yet still so much to learn and so much to do.

Finally becoming a sophomore, looking back at all my actions is quite funny. Changing who I am just to please people. I started to dress like her, study like her and soon act like her. I’ve been complaining about people expecting me to be someone I’m not when I let them. I became a person that when you look in the mirror you think,, “Who are you?” I may not know the complete answer for this but then again I’m only a Sophomore still going through life finding out who she really is. 

Coming of Age

“New school new me!” same line almost everyone says to start the new school year. Everyone striving for those straight A’s, wanting to wear the best outfit or even trying to get the most likes on instargam. Well that’s not how it is for me. Having a straight A, magnacumlaude , beautiful focus sister doesn’t really help.

         I started my year at moanalua during the summer in colorguard. I should have known joining guard was the first point people would start calling me “Danali’s little sister” or “mini Danali.” Although at first I didn’t mind, being a freshman your first goal was to be known for something. As I was finding my way through high school, making friendships and finding myself it’s gotten harder to hear the same thing over and over “Mini Danali.” Coming from my point of view it wasn’t a good thing. I’ve learn to always be myself and to express who I really am, but how am I supposed to succeed that if no one would give me the chance. I’m too busy trying to fill in the expectations people expect me to do when my sister and I a two totally different people.

         As if being called Danali’s little sister isn’t enough she had the perfect grades that means not only people at school expected from me but people at home as well. I remembered when I got scolding for my uncle saying “What is wrong with this grade? I swear your sister never had these type of grades.” And from that moment I told myself I would be just like her just to make the people feel proud of me, But having this goal came to a point where I’ve lost myself, I didn’t know who I really was. Trying to be what people expect me to be because of my sister made me change who I am as a person. Not saying it’s a bad thing but it’s not a good thing either.

 When I realize me doing all these things made me put a lot of pressure on myself.  I noticed “The more you do to be like her more of the real you will just disappear.” Now being the sophomore it has brought me to the point that I need to grow up. I’m not a kid anymore I need to start looking into my own future not a future that people see for me. After this experience I’ve learned to be myself in life and not try to be someone I’m not. 

The humans fault

Humans should know the risk of the location and there limits, We should be aware of our surroundings.  We can't blame the land or the government for something that happens on its own. It's our decision and our call to do these type of things. Dozens of humans die for the actions, although mother nature takes a part it's nothing we can control, We still should have been more aware and alert of our surroundings

David Potts from San Anselmo California was fooling around at Nakalele Point blowhole when a large wave struck him from behind and knocked him into the hole (page 1). This just states that Potts wasn't aware of his surroundings. Article also states that search teams returned to the site and noticed that visitors continued to gather around the blowhole area despite being told that someone disappeared in the dame location a few days ago. An even as big as this must have been everywhere news, papers and people talking, These visitors chose to come back to the same location knowing the risk that it puts them. Therefore it's us the humans fault for putting our own lives in danger, if we choose to do these adventures we need to be more aware without surroundings, know our limits and be responsible.

After knowing more information about just this one persons actions and the societies decision of the location it's fair to say that it's us the humans fault. Although the location does not put signs we still should have put matters in our own hands. Us having the technology and other resources should research more about the environment we are going too. We need to know the type of weather it has and the risk listed. If you think about it how many times do you actually stop and read a sign, although people do stop and look majority just keep on going. It's our decision why blame it on mother nature