Peter Pan.

The Calc BC test is over. 2 (3) more to go~

Random College Application Prompt;
Consider the books you have read in the last year or two either for school or for leisure. Please discuss the way in which one of them changed your understanding of the world, other people, or yourself.

My sophomore year, I took one of the most memorable and fun classes I have ever taken. Honors Humanities. I had a wonderful teacher who taught me to appreciate the arts, and who pretty much taught me how to write. The students in my class were crazy goofballs, but we were all bright and full of great ideas.

As the year began to end, our sophomore thesis approached; and I knew I wanted to do film, but unsure of which one to do. After much deliberation and a quick discussion with my teacher, I decided to compare and contrast the novel Peter Pan, by J.M Barrie, and the 2003 live action film.

I'm not afraid to admit I'm a bookworm. I devour books like a kid with candy after Halloween. Considering how small of a book Peter Pan is, I assumed it would be a simple read. But how wrong I was.

Once I entered the research stage, I started to delve deeper into the book and consequently, the film. I would spend hours reading literary criticisms, and analyzing scenes or passages, totally inawed by how different Peter Pan was from what Disney had portrayed it to be.

The change it made on me wasn't profound. Worlds don't change overnight; they change day by day; Peter Pan is a story of childhood, it's about growing up, it is in essence, the story of life.

I'm scared to college. I'm scared to grow old. Some decisions I make now will effect the rest of my life, and I'll regret some of them and I'll accept others. But life goes on. Wendy left Peter to grow up. Perhaps sometimes, she looked back and wondered what it would be like. But she moved on with her life. She got married, had a child named Jane, and by the time Peter came back, Neverland was only a sweet memory.

My life will continue on, whether I choose to act or not. I will eventually grow up, there's absolutely nothing I can do about it other than spend as much of my life happy and hopefully, leaving a mark on the world.

Immortality is unreachable, an eternal childhood is unreachable. The memories will always linger, bittersweet as they may be. But it's time to move on. No one is certain how long we have on earth - so I'm going to try to make the best of it. Peter is such a tragic character because he is unable to learn from his mistakes - stuck in an eternal loop of carefree nonsense.

I want to make something of this life. I'm going to have to face my fears, grow up, and become something. Although I may not be sure of what that is yet, I know I want to make a difference for someone. Not all of us can save the world; there are 8 billion people in the world, and if I can change one, I'd consider my life pretty much fufilled.

And as I began to look forward to the future, I began to see other things - how beautiful our world is, how good my life is, cliche things you'd expect to come out of some cheesy movie. I honestly believe it though. Peter Pan made me an optimist.

I may have gotten a B on that paper, but what the story has taught me... well I guess a B doesn't look to bad after all in the long run.