“I’m Not the Same Person I Was Seven Months Ago”
Originally published in the Baltimore Sun Newspaper on October 15. Submitted for a contest on how Covid has changed young teens.
“Focused on the future”
Just five months ago I was 10 pounds lighter, narrow-minded and self-absorbed. Now, I have realized beauty shouldn’t be confined to one standard. I know the deep truths about my country, and that life isn’t about you, it’s about your relationship with God and what you do in life to show that.
I wanted to be a neurologist, study the brain and make groundbreaking work, but I nowknow that is not the path for me. I have come to realize myself more, that I tend to make the wrong choices in what I eat, what I say and in what I do. I know that I like to speak my mind even if it gets me in trouble and that I am passionate about saving the world through my voice. I understand that without money and fame in this materialistic world, your voice is your most powerful weapon, and can get you a long way.
Writing is my passion and writing my own column in the New York Times, writings that would truly make a difference in the world, is my dream. I want to be an activist through my stories, and show all sides of the truth and all of its backgrounds. I have mapped out my future for the next seven years and it has changed numerous times — and who is to say it will stay the same. The pandemic has pushed my mind to think more about my future and who I want to be at the end of my life. I know I want to be right with God and follow the rules of my Christian faith. I have started to read the Bible, something I never did before. I have started to feel God’s presence in my life, something so wonderful and peaceful, nothing in this world could amount to it. I try to do my part in the conversation of racism by educating myself and then others. Racism is taught in our society and to help end it, I want to educate the future generations through my writing, and change the thought process of my superiors.
Cheyenne DeGross is starting her second year for the Tartan Times as its first Editor. She is a member of the class of 2022, as well as Co-president of...