Who is The Most Influential Person in Your Life

Certain people in our lives have this special ability to inspire. They give us strength when things get tough, when we feel pessimistic due to some events in our lives, or they motivate us to do the things we want but are afraid of. They influence us by the way they live their lives. For many, the question arises, "who is the most influential person in your life?" For me, there are many people who can be role models, but one of them stands out the most: my stepfather. Him I admire most of all. He helped me in lots of situations, and I became the person I wanted because of him. He is also a role model in the lives of most people who have the privilege of knowing him. The reasons why I value my stepfather are his optimism, hard work, and his kindness.

To begin with, my stepfather was left to look after himself at a very young age; after his father’s passing, his mother was not quite all there. Along with having to care for himself, he had to care for his mother. He was still in school, at that time, having to do odd jobs here and there. His mother did not have much for him at the time after his father had passed away. Therefore, he was left in a situation that many would have called hopeless. Most young people would have lost hope and given themselves up to despair. However, this was not the case for my stepfather. He looked at the positive aspects of his life. While he had to work and go to school, he dreamed that one day he would become a successful pilot. Despite all the difficulties, he gave up neither working nor going to school. He pushed on with his education, and his current success in his career shows the importance of positive thinking.

One more thing I respect my stepfather for is his will to work hard. After graduating high school at the top of his class, he entered the Marine Corps, where he served in The Korean War as a fighter pilot. After his tour was over, he came back, a bit shaken up, but unharmed and with his GI bill, he enrolled into USC and in four years graduated at the top of his class once again, with the honors summa cum laude. My stepfather faced with great financial pressure over the years. He had to take care of his family members on his own. This man was the one person that kept our family running. Being first an underpaid firefighter, which is a feat itself own due to the fact he had to pass not only a difficult physical test but also a mental exam before he was considered to be a firefighter. His next promotion was to moderately-paid engineer, and to get there he had to pass a written as well as a physical test. Moreover, to qualify for the promotion, he had to have three units of the IFSTA training program; these are units #3 Hose Practice; #5 Fire Streams; and #6 Fire Apparatus. Finally, he was promoted to a well-paid Captain of the Glendale Fire Department, and to get to the position of captain he had to complete the IFSTA training program having a minimum of two years in grade as a Fire Lieutenant measured as of one year beyond the date of the written examination and pass officer training school. Also, on the side, he was a private pilot so that he could earn extra money. He worked hard to ensure we could attend the best schools and got a decent meal. Apart from these things that I learn from his life, he also advises me on the importance of hard work. With time, I have adapted to his way of thinking and turned into a hardworking person.

Finally, my stepfather is one of the kindest people I know. For instance, he has three children with his first wife, yet he treated me like his own daughter so that I never felt left out. He always granted equal opportunities to each child. I remember the time he rewarded me with a very beautiful pin after I graduated high school. This is not common with most stepfathers. However, he truly cares for and appreciates me as his stepdaughter, as if I were his flesh and blood. And he treats everyone with equal kindness.

I admire my stepfather the most because he is the model that has molded my life by showing me the three most important things in life, which are optimism hard work and kindness. My stepfather is a true inspiration in my life. He has shown me that having the right attitude and values can influence the people around you. However, I can only try and aspire to be like him. The time I spend with him is never enough. I try to interact with him whenever every I get the chance. This is because I always learn something new, every time I am around him. Undoubtedly, he is a role model for everyone.

In 2019, Greta Thunberg, an ambitious seventeen-year-old Swedish environmental activist led the largest climate strike in the world! In over 161 countries, 4 million people stood alongside her in a strike aimed at the world to call for change. Greta Thunberg is a determined young lady with a bright future who is sharper than a number four pencil. Over 2019, Thunberg has without question, stimulated an outstanding amount of global action, more than anyone on earth has ever attempted. It is time Thunberg gets the recognition that she deserves, by dubbing her the most influential person of 2019.

At the tender age of 11, Greta Thunberg was aware of the rising problem of climate change; the effects of which have been simmering like an over cooked stew. Thunberg became depressed by the ostensibly unachievable task. The thought of the planet being in a crisis, drove this child to stop eating and socializing. Ask yourself, if you would be this moved and impacted by climate change at the astonishingly young age of 11? As she grew older, the escalating environmental dilemma empowered and inspired her to ensure the world did something about it. Every single Friday, Thunberg begun courageously protesting directly in front of the Swedish parliament building, vowing that she would persist until the emissions reduction target was agreed by the Swedish government. She begun to continually cut classes and schooling to protest and advocated other students to participate. By December 2018, she had mustered over 20,000 students from the UK, Australia, Japan, US and Belgium to join her. She then decided to take the entire year of 2019 off to continue to protest, perform speeches, attend conferences and meet with important political and nonpolitical leaders. She says, “It felt like I was the only one who cared about the climate and the ecological crisis.” I know you’d agree that taking one whole year off to courageously protest across the country rather than go to school is extreme perseverance. Therefore, Greta Thunberg has demonstrated enormous tenacity to find a solution for the global environmental crisis through her protesting.

Greta Thunberg is a devoted activist and cares so deeply about the environment, and this is evident through her choice of transport. As Greta Thunberg led strikes and protests all around Europe, she traveled by train rather than aeroplane in order to reduce the impact on the environment. When she was invited to attend the UN climate conference located in New York, she declined the option to take an aeroplane, instead she sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in a trip that took two weeks. She refuses to contribute to the carbon footprint through the large amounts of greenhouse gases that are released from flying. I am convinced that I would not have the dedication of this young girl to sail on a journey for two weeks rather than fly and that no one else would either. Additionally, she has convinced other people and even her own mother, a renowned opera singer where travelling is essential to quit flying via plane. Consequently, Greta Thunberg has shown her influence on the events of the year, in relation to her commitment to reducing greenhouse gases, and in the long term helping the globes ecological crisis.

Greta Thunberg has powered through numerous obstacles such as cruel and brutal people giving horrendously rude comments about her to reporters and on her social media accounts. Thunberg refuses to allow other people’s comments and opinions demean her self-worth. She said that she receives thousands upon thousands of online hate comments bullying her for her appearance, clothing, behavior and disorders. Can you even grasp being discriminated and destroyed for something you cannot help or change? Her speeches have sparked even the US President Donald Trump to mercilessly mock her with his brutally bitter words saying that she ‘needs to work on her anger management problem’. The Russian President Vladimir Putin ruthlessly and rudely referred to the innocent girl as a ‘kind but poorly informed teenager’. Steven Mnuchin, the US Treasury Secretary disrespectfully demeaned her saying that ‘After she goes and studies economics in college, she can come back and explain that to us”. Imagine how this young, innocent girl feels being victimized by the world’s leaders for trying to solve a crisis! NO ONE should be demeaned and mistreated like this and we should step up and put a stop to this by dubbing her the most influential!

In conclusion, Greta Thunberg is an exceptionally driven and motivated environmental activist who has not stop protesting and is determined to fix the global ecological crisis, she even took one whole year off of school to do so! She undertook a two-week journey across the Atlantic Ocean rather than fly because of the ridiculous amounts of greenhouse gasses that they produce. She has absolutely powered through world leaders ruthlessly demeaning her and people on her social media accounts bullying her for her appearance, disorders and many more. Based on the evidence, no one else in the world has been anywhere near as influential or deserves the recognition as much as Greta Thunberg. She is changing the world as we know it, and I am confident that we should, and we must, stand alongside her and dub Thunberg the most influential person.

Works Cited

1. BBC. (2019, December 20). Greta Thunberg: Climate Crisis Activist Gets Comic Book Treatment. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50861907
2. CNN. (2019, September 23). Greta Thunberg: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know.
3. Greta Thunberg's official website. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.gretathunberg.org/
4. Svenska Dagbladet. (2018, August 20). Greta Thunberg: "Skolstrejken för klimatet kan pågå i åratal" [Greta Thunberg: "The school strike for climate can go on for years"]. Retrieved from https://www.svd.se/greta-thunberg-skolstrejken-for-klimatet-kan-paga-i-aratal
5. The Guardian. (2019, March 11). Greta Thunberg: The Fifteen-Year-Old Climate Activist Who Is Leading a Global Movement.