Good Life Award - Winners
2008
Good Life Award Writing Contest
Good Life Award Winner
Colleen Kochensparger
8th Grade, Watts Middle School
| Dear Ben, I know you won't be a teenager for five long years, but as your older sister, I have some friendly advice for when you get there. Be like a striped fish. Let me explain. There's a poster at my school that has several fish (all the same color) going with the current. There's also one striped fish who is going against the flow. I want you to be like that striped fish. The poster says, "What is right is not always easy. What is easy is not always right." Making the right decisions in life won't always be the easiest thing to do. Be like Superman and use your x-ray vision to see what people are like on the inside before becoming friends with them because others think they're cool. I have some friends who love sports, some who are better with books than people, some who have great taste in fashion, and some who are shy. Not all of them are friends with each other -- maybe because they've been listening to others' opinions instead of forming their own. You can be like Spiderman too. He uses his spidey-sense to figure out when something's wrong or dangerous. You have that too...but we call it a conscience. When making a decision, listen to that little guiding voice inside your head. If you're following your friends down the wrong path, your spidey-sense can help guide everyone back on track. Or use Mr. Fantastic as your role model. He stretches not only his body but his mind. Like the fish poster says, what is easy is not always right. You can stretch your mind to see beyond the norm and what is generally accepted as right. You can forge your own path in the world and help others, just like all superheroes are meant to do. So, if you follow in the footsteps of these heroes (and fish), you will have a wonderful life. By being your own person (or fish) instead of following the crowd, you will find life much more interesting. By using x-ray vision to make your friends, you'll probably have friends for life instead of fair-weather friends. By using your spidey-sense to make the right choice, you will lead a better life, especially knowing that you did the right thing. And by stretching your mind to realize if the easy thing to do is right or wrong, you will help others and yourself to understand that it's a good thing to be a little different. So be a striped fish and swim in your own direction and be a superhero and help others. And be like Dottie Yeck, who believed that being good + doing good = having fun + being happy. That was her equation for a good life. Go out and live your own! Your favorite (and only) sister, Colleen |