“There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect”(Ronald Reagan).
There’s a moment in everyone’s life when you just can’t move, when the situation must play through and you must submiss to the outcome; a moment when just three seconds ago all was well, but now it was life or death.
We are heading home around 8 pm. On Atlantic Avenue, there’s a green arrow pointing, signaling it is safe to turn left. As any driver would do, my grandfather drives into the intersection and makes a crisp left turn. That’s when it goes down. A black Dodge Charger comes in speeding at us, and a single collision relays several reactions. I just sit there, with my heart beating too fast to count. I watch as my grandfather swerves the steering wheel in an effort to prevent another crash in the gas station we were pushed into. My mother grabs a hold of me and screams, “ARE YOU OKAY?”. My sister just sits there as well. We are all perfectly fine, but on the inside I am shook.
A couple of car rides later, the incident had become nothing but a memory; perhaps, another story to tell or to write about in a blog. Yet, the experience conveyed life’s importance to me. I came to value moments with my friends and family a lot more because of this experience; not just moments, but my education, my relationships, my interests, and my pursuits. I wanted to live life without restraints and I only realized that after that momentously crisp left turn.
Here at Baruch, I hope that I am able to tackle the constraints of the mind by pursuing mathematics and economics. I hope to break down the walls around human spirit by getting involved and meeting new people. I expect to step far enough outside the line (my comfort zone), to where the point of growth begins. Growth as an individual, a member of society, and as a Baruch Scholar.
