Who You Are Matters

           I was born during the blizzard of ’96 on Madison Avenue in New York City. When recounting that night, my dad told me that there were no cabs in site and only one man driving around doing hospital runs. Luckily, my parents rode with him to Mt. Sinai Hospital on 98^th Street where I was born on January 9^th at 11:47 pm. This was not the story I heard when I first asked my parents where I came from. They told me that they planted a seed in our garden, a seed given to them because of their love for each other. Every day, they would go to that spot in our garden and water it until a flower bloomed and I was there. I loved Thumbelina as a kid so I’m assuming they tailored their story to one of my favorite fairytales.  

            My ultimate goal in life is to help people who don’t have access to the resources and institutions to help themselves. It seems as if I’m on the path to getting there. For the next two years, I will be joining the Teach for America Los Angeles Corps during which I’ll be teaching middle school Science. Afterwards, I hope to attend Medical School. Once a physician, I’d like to volunteer with organizations such as Healing the Children to provide care for those who do not live close enough to a hospital or clinic to receive the treatment they need. It is my father who inspired this part of me, and he has become my role model for what I aspire to be. He travels with Healing the Children three times a year to offer cleft lip and palate repairs to those in need. While I did inherit his passion, I’ve also inherited some of his worst traits. We’re both lazy, messy, and pretty stubborn. My mother gave me her physical traits rather than personality. If you were to look at a photo of her at my age, you would assume we are the same person. I wish I had been blessed with her work ethic, as she is the type of person who does the work she’s meant to right away and doesn’t put it off until the last minute (like I typically do).

            I have four older sisters and throughout my life I’ve found that I often compare myself to them and what they achieved at my age. While I tried to avoid this, I created expectations of myself that were hard to amend since they, in some way, became a part of me and who I thought I should be.

           

            I feel a special connection to flamingos. Flamingos are social birds who typically live with a flock of around 71 birds. I grew up with four sisters and two grandmothers, and currently live in my sorority house with 60 girls. I enjoy being surrounded by people and love always having someone to talk to.

           

            When I was just a few years old, my grandmother would take me for walks in Central Park. Whenever we would pass by dandelions, I would pluck them out and offer them to her as some sort of bouquet with any other flowers I could find. My grandmother is always so happy when she retells this story, and I hope that the people I help will talk as warmly of me as she does.