Outsiders: The Event That Changed My Life

Humans are like butterflies; constantly changing and evolving to become better. For some people, it takes one small event and the moment of enlightenment that follows to change their life. Outsiders may not understand and may think that the event is insignificant, much like how outsiders view a chrysalis, but after the butterfly has emerged from its chrysalis and has finished expanding and drying off, others can begin to understand the change that they went through.

In November of 2016, my family and I were shopping in Academy Sports and Outdoors in search of a new pair of sneakers for my father. After finding what we needed, we checked out and then proceeded to the parking lot through the automatic sliding glass doors at the front of the store. As we were slowly walking through these doors, my mother was almost knocked over

It happened so fast that neither I or my parents knew what was happening until the man hopped into a waiting vehicle and escaped. While no one was hurt in this robbery, it made me think about what would’ve happened if it was an armed robbery and whether my life was something that I could look back on and be proud of. On the way to dinner, my parents turned on the radio and the song “I Lived” by OneRepublic started to play. While this song, in general, is inspiring, the one line that hit home was “I owned every second that this world could give”. The robbery and the song combined made me reflect on my life and question whether or not I had “owned every second that this world could give” and also whether I could “swear I lived” when I looked back on my life. I slowly came to the realization that, while there have assuredly been some times in my life where I have owned every second,