WY - Wyoming by FRANCESCA

WY - Wyoming by FRANCESCA - April 2016 Scholarship Essay

As a High School Senior looking back on the past four years maybe even the past five, the amount of mistakes made is unfathomable. However, there many pieces of advice I would like to share, I feel as if the most important is something that even adults struggle with everyday. And within everyday, we tend to ignore this issue over and over again, turning a blind eye as if it'll go away if we try and pretend it doesn't exist. But it doesn't, and the overwhelming feeling creeps up on us, making our mouths shut instantly and our tongues become dry.
Everyday, you see these types of people and see them passing by, but what are you to do when you hear the words that burn your ears, coming from your peers that are walking along side you - everyday. You think you can hide yourself from it, but she think's of that too, it's impossible and never going to happen. You constantly wish that this feeling would end, even if at first, maybe you joined in. Trying to keep your mind off of it, trying to avoid it. But to no avail, the images are burned into your mind, like a dark humor that you could intwine, with the feeling that creeps up on you - everyday.
When finally, you can't resist the urge; you simply just have to take a peek, at the events that are transpiring right before your eyes. You wish you could turn a blind eye, maybe that would be for the best, but on the inside you know it's not jest. The sad girl who you could have just said, was your best friend, is now just dead. The words that burned your ears had reached her's too, perhaps unfolding the events that had just come true. If you could just turn back time, to when it was cool, to the moment in which you didn't act as a fool. You let pride and 'friendship', get in the way, of what truly mattered and still does - everyday. The life she once had, now ceased to exist. Taken away with just a plain noose, they said all she wanted was just a clue - that someone loved her and that it was true. Now, to this day, you sit and ponder - what could have happened if I just had some honor? You sit and think of this - everyday.
This is my advice to the younger students and even adults, when you see someone bullied, don't turn a blind eye. At one point in time, I wished I could go back, to the moment in which I had said something, anything, to the people who had said such awful things to my best friend. Although the situation was different, I wish I had been told of the event's that had transpired that day. Younger students, don't let your pride get in the way. Even if they aren't your friend, you would be doing a great honor to someone who loves them and appreciates their existence on this planet.
In loving memory of Julien Fujita, 1998-2013