I have observed a lot in my 17 years of living. Most teenagers are living to find personal happiness in several different ways. They tend to make decisions without thinking or caring about the consequences. On the other hand, I think about everything. I feel like I have spent my 17 years differently than average teenagers and my peers do.

I have learned that I desire for my life to have an impact. I’m not sure to what extent, but the passion to have an influence increases within me each day. I want every human to feel that passion. I want every human to know they have purpose, they are loved, and they are worthy of that love.

I have noticed a distaste for things that would please a typical teenager. Fitting in, having all the cool friends, drinking, and abusing drugs are just not my thing. I would much rather spend a night sitting in a small chair right in front of the tv with my mom and some ice cream than go to a party ANY day. I’m not an introvert by any means, I just simply cannot stand around and watch my friends try to find happiness and worth in all the wrong places.

I have recently found myself intrigued by all the different things humans do. All humans have distinctively different outer appearance. We don’t all look alike, act alike, or even speak alike, yet I feel like we are all connected and understanding of the situations we go through. The things that connect us all are our emotions and expressions. We are very different in most aspects, yet some of our deepest, saddest feelings and thoughts are universally shared.

I have discovered that we all share some of the same core emotions. Whether you are from the least populated city in Kansas or Tokyo, China, you can testify that you have experienced fear, sadness, guilt, happiness, and a multitude of other emotions. You can testify that you have wondered about what will happen to you after death. You can testify that you have been afraid of embarrassing yourself, and you can testify that you have struggled with finding a purpose in this world. According to an article published by Cornell, there are six universal facial expressions that allow me, an English-speaking American, to understand any human on the other side of the world. I’m a big talker, but I love that we can tell each other how we feel without having to say a word.

I have realized that we all have a void we cannot fill and questions we cannot answer. Any human who sits in a room for long enough will begin to search their brain for questions about things beyond our existence. Some go to the ends of the earth to find out where we came from and come back not fulfilled by the scientific answers they find. There aren’t any science experiments that can explain why we crave to know the truth and expect scientists to report the truth. There aren’t any science experiments to explain why humans crave to worship something.

I have concluded that this life is fleeting. One day you’re attending elementary school where every classmate is a friend, and the next day you’re a junior in high school and your future is beginning to take shape. I don’t find that there is a lot of time to work towards things that have no meaning. I personally believe that we try to impress others, it makes us go crazy.

I have a message for all of you and that is to slow down, take a moment to consider your precious, short life and find out its meaning. Don’t, by any means, freak out about the small little mistakes. Life is too short to be worrying about things we cannot change. Take a moment, or two, to dance out all the stresses of life. This message was not to push any sort of religion or belief on anyone. I simply want to put out observations of mine and encourage my reader to consider his or her life. I hope you enjoy whatever it is that you see.

https://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/OldStudentProjects/cs490-95to96/HJKIM/emotions.html