Taking Charge

I was always the first one off the bus. Back in high school, there were unspoken (and maybe even unnoticed) groups of people. I was in a normal city, with wealthier and poorer parts just like everyplace else. But it wasn't until senior year that I noticed a simple way to tell who was from what part; the rich kids and the poor kids.

It was actually amusing when I first noticed it, then when I realized what group I was in, it became a little depressing.

Here's how my school worked in the mornings. Students were allowed to drive to school. When the buses got to school in the morning, students were allowed to get off and go into the cafeteria to eat breakfast, but ONLY go to the cafeteria and eat breakfast. No going to the locker, no roaming the halls, and absolutely no going into the cafeteria and not eating breakfast. This period was only a few minutes, depending on when your bus arrived at school, but then the bell would ring and everyone else would get off the bus and all students would head to class.

Here's how I mentally divided up the social classes. First, the kids that drove to school. Of course, most of them were from B***** ****. Duh. Any 17 year-old in that part of Ohio with their own car had to be from there. The place where they gave out full-sized candy bars at Halloween. The place where houses had two stories AND a two-car garage. Yeah, those were the rich kids.

Next up were the kids that got off as soon as the buses to go inside and eat breakfast. They didn't have enough money for a car, but they could swing a buck and a half for breakfast everyday. These were the kids from in town; the general M**** **** area. The place where you still got full candy bars at Halloween, but they were the fun size kind. These kids weren't rich, but they certainly weren't in the next group.

My group.

We were the kids that stayed on the bus until the bell rang. The kids that couldn't afford a car. Heck, we couldn't even afford to buy breakfast everyday. We were the kids from H*** **** and H***********. The kids who went Trick-or-Treating at the houses of the first two groups to get the "good candy." I was one of those kids.

But, every single day, that bell for the rejects to get off the bus rang at the same time. And it was custom for all the remaining high schoolers to go to the door of the bus to make a quit exit to get into school. I made a point to always be the first one off the bus. At least of my group anyway.

No, I could never beat the kids with cars into the building. And I was doomed to let those well-off enough to eat breakfast pass me by. But when it came to the part I could control, I promised myself that I'd always be the first.

In case you hadn't figured it out yet, this has very little to do with trivial stories from my high school days, and even less (absolutely nothing) to do with Halloween candy.

But it has everything to do with my mindset when it comes to life. I can't control my background. I can't control what I'm naturally challenged at. I can't control that there are just some people who are better than me. Better writers, better students, better journalists, better people. But I can control what I do about it, and I will take charge of everything I can and make myself the best that I can be. And maybe that won't be the best overall, but I will learn to live with that. I won't like it, but I'll live with it.

That story has everything to do with how hard I'm going to work to make sure I put myself in the best possible position that I can. I WILL do well in this, my chosen field. I am going to do my very best. I'm going to succeed.

I'm going to be the first one off the bus.



NOTE: *The blocked words are names of local towns.