By: Jasmeen Shahine

In everyday in our lives we make choices that no matter how little they seem, they always affect our future. When we were kids, we saw life in colors; bright and vibrant. Our friends were those, whom we have met in cartoons or books, went on adventures with and fought alongside them the dragon at the end of each season. They were the ones whom we’ve cried with when they lost a brother or a parent and it felt like losing your own. They were the ones who taught us about family, friendship, loyalty and sarcasm when we knew nothing of it. They shaped us into what we are, until we grew up and realized there is so much more than rainbows in life. It was beautiful and the future was beautiful, but it was so wrong in so many ways.

It is this big pile of sunshine that set you up to a disappointment as big as that pile. As children, we are hypnotized to believe in light and not darkness. But how can one choose light when they haven’t touched the darkness?! We were believed that the hero is always right, that the hero can never be a villain, but boy! We were wrong. As we grew up, we began to notice the fragments in each story, see that the hero is not all good after all, that women are not all damsels in distress, and we start to see life as it really is. Seeing the hidden life behind every colorful and wonderful act, seeing that it’s fake and we see the ugly side of life hitting you, unexpectedly!

Looking back at it, it seems like childhood is the only phase in our lives that can be described as “Heaven on Earth”. A life without worries, stress and only sunshine is the dream to everyone who is over twenty years old. Life is not colorful, it is not black and white; life is both colorful and colorless, overlapping each other and that is what makes it worth living.  When you’re younger than twenty year old and become aware that your degree won’t give you your “dream future”, you make a choice. When you lose all faith in your education and the people around you, you make a choice. When you believe that you have all that you need in your life, you make a choice. You make a choice to quit, to continue or to be better. You choose either left or right, there is no in between. You leave your childhood dreams behind you and focus on no. Your goals change to fit the person you are today and the person you want to fit into. Life is an overlapping crossroad, you do not see what color it holds for you until you step up and make a choice. You take a leap of faith and hope for the best. But one should always remember that, with every choice you make, you also choose its consequences. So don’t screw it up!