Why We Should Appreciate Own Life

“Valuing Life”

“Value five things before five; Value youth before old age, Health before sickness, Free time before being occupied, Wealth before poverty, and Life before death.” is one of the many quotes I keep to hold me through the dark times. It summarized the way I was raised; how I came to think independently, and the appreciation I developed for life. While I didn't notice right away, as I gained more knowledge in the country I moved back into, I came to realized how little quality, whether negative or positive, these new people I started meeting had.

Yesterday was the most significant date of American history, September 11. Every year, this day, we come together to remember those prized lived we lost, to never forget the event that both weakened and strengthened us. It gave us the cruel reality; how far humans would go to prove their point. However, that isn't all it has to offer. It remind it us how life could end in an instance. It taught us how lucky we are today. For if we have lost the great Twin Towers, along with flight-93, we should still feel relieved that's all it was. As much of a tragedy, it should serve as a reminder that terror that we have lived for 10 years, in other countries; they lived with it their whole lives. Not for one day or two, we should appreciate the security from the ugly truth of war and extreme violence that we have earned.

Take a look around you, whether you're in the classroom, library, or the comfort of your home. When you enter your school in the early morning, look around, but also take in the view. The environment that you have just seen is more special and unique than you ever considered. The buildings that make up C.H.S, and schools all over America, keep the hot sun from your head, and the cold rain from your shoulders, as you learn. The teacher who stands in the classroom giving her lecture is most likely underpaid, but you still have her there with the outermost sincerity and care. The availability of a janitor, who when he sees that you slipped on juice, would rush over with panic and anger than you can muster for yourself at that moment. This is the most fundamental of educations.

Many of us are always complaining, but what have we to find fault in learning. School is the setting for gaining knowledge. Even though the system it runs with needs modification, but so does our government, and we're still a united nation. If what are seen are constructive criticisms of this system, then they are more than welcome. Yet, all that is shown is dislike, and sometimes even an unexplained hatred, towards school and the education it offers. You say all you need is to know how to read and write, and there shouldn't be need for those useless courses of algebra and the like. If it hasn't come to your knowledge yet, our world has become one full of heated competition. You don't want to be frying burger 10 years from now, and look back and remember how much different your life would have been with that education you were offered so freely. To truly live your life, you need to appraise it, and to do so you give it your best. You give your best not only in your everyday life, but that education that is going to decide its future.

“We are still young, there's a whole life waiting out there for us.” Nevertheless, never take for granted that you are still a teen, that you have time to prepare, and the means to make that possible. If we have the blessing to be healthy enough to walk, enough to attend school, enough to carry out our daily needs, then we have no excuse not to appreciate our lives. We know we can never be the best; we can only strive to be so. Just the same, we can always sink lower. So value your life as it is, no matter what your current situation. It will keep just above the zero; you will be able to keep that frown upside down.