For a long time, I have the desire to change the world. The way I would achieve this was still not clear. There are people who change the way I think and the way I live. These are the people I have idolized and have changed the way I live. The person who has changed my life a great deal is Nelson Mandela.
Mandela has passed on a few weeks ago. There will be many books written about him, many movies will be produced in honor of him and many good things will be said. I doubt if there will be any documentary or description that will capture the impact that Mandela had in my life. My life has been surrounded with hatred and pity. I have not had a place in my heart to cherish other people who did not share the same ideas as me. I have been brainwashed for most of my life, because of my practice of racisms and distraction. I have never harbored hope but pessimism for the most part of my life. I was ignorant and a cynic. But Nelson Mandela changed all these and my life. I have lived a life where democracy was not practiced. I have lived in Puerto Rico since when I was a kid. My location was a poor neighborhood in Bronx where there is a lot of drugs and violence. Most people in my neighborhood were hopeless which is reflected in the school system that I went through. From when I was young, I have had the dream of changing the world. I have desired to have some impact on the world so that I love it better than I found it.
As I went through the public education system, my dreams and ambitions of changing the world started getting shattered. This is because of the learning system that is experienced in public system in Puerto Rico. I had completely lost the sight of my dream when I reached Dewitt Clinton High School. The environment that I lived sent a message that it was hard for me to achieve my dream and that I was useless. By the time I was studying at my junior school in my first year, my grades had completely dropped and I had missed classes for two straight months and nobody realized. At this time, I was ready to drop out of school. I made a decision to consult my counselor before I made the final step to get out of school. Instead of getting words of inspirations from the counselor, I was told to drop out and get my GED. The counselor told me that I was not meant for school.
The statement and the words from the counselor sparked some strife in me. I was set to prove him that he was wrong. I got angry because the counselor told me that I was not the material for school. I would tell the whole world that I could not make it. I decided that I would be someone and that I would be someone in life and the counselor could have to eat his own words. I decided that I would change my school. I went to Jill ChaifetzTransfer High school where I got a nurturing environment. When I did this, everything around me changed for the better. While I was struggling with my academics, I came across a writing contest that was sponsored by Nelson Mandela Foundation. To my surprise, I was among the twelve winners who were selected in 2012. After three weeks, I found myself in a plane headed to South Africa to meet the man who changed my life forever, Nelson Mandela. When I met Nelson Mandela, I was thrilled when he mentioned my name. I was happy to have met someone who gave up his life for the sake of freedom for his country (Lodge, 2006). He was a hero, and that is the man I was standing in front of him. The handshake changed my entire life. When I shook his handshake, my dream came back to me once again. This was when I remembered that education was the only way that I would change the world. I decided there and then that I would pursue education so that I would be a teacher. I decided that I would help kids achieve their dreams. This was after I met Nelson Mandela. His help and inspirations he left to many was a wake-up call to me.
My current studies will help me change the world my own way. I want to encourage future leaders that whatever they are doing and no matter how far they are from their dreams, it is still possible to change the world. The life of Nelson Mandela taught me that we will make it in life when we persist and pursue our dreams. No kid should ever think that they are not the materials to learn. Like me, everyone can be what they want to be in their lives.
References
Lodge, T. (2006). Mandela: A critical life. Oxford University Press.
