Little Girl with Tool-belt Asks Adults to Stop Asking by Matilda

Little Girl with Tool-belt Asks Adults to Stop Asking by Matilda - June 2017 Scholarship Essay

In a dress, Timberlands, a camo bandana, holding a babydoll named "Lovie", six-year-old Matilda ran around outside, had tea parties and did whatever her heart desired. Nobody at home boxed her in or even asked that question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" and then coo, "awww a princess" or "really a fireman? but you're a girl". It was not until kindergarten that someone asked her and she replied, certain and excited about her answer: "a roofer-plumber". "A what?!" the well-meaning adult replied. "A roofer-plumber" came the exuberant response from a happy little six-year-old. Little did Matilda know that she was not supposed to want to have a man's job and even less a "blue-collar" job like roofing or plumbing, even less put the two of them together.... Unfortunately this question is just the beginning of the boxes that children are put in by adults expectations. It starts far earlier than six-years-old and lasts well into adulthood.
Probably the time when it can hit the hardest is graduation from high school. The bombardment of questions can paralyze young people who are perhaps finally able to make decisions for the first time. College? Where to go? What to study? Questions that eighteen-year-old Matilda was no more prepared to answer than six-year-old Matilda was prepared to be questioned on her dreams of a roofer-plumber empire. So big Matilda looked back at little Matilda and said "no more questions" and moved away to Hungary, Jordan and finally landed in Costa Rica and Panama. After three years of avoiding questions, she finally figured out the answers to the questions she had, not to other peoples questions. Now studying Business Management with the hopes of expanding a successful vacation and property management company in three countries, she will be hiring the roofers, the plumbers and appreciating their work, just like she did as a six-year-old.
Experience is a type of education. As any new college graduate applying for jobs knows, a degree is no longer enough. Internships, employment, volunteering, and traveling are all assets to a resume, but also to a fulfilled life. While pursuing education it is easy to forget to ask oneself the questions that really matter. Rather than focusing on what the future holds, asking questions such as, "Am I happy? Do I feel fulfilled? Is this what I want?" are instrumental in making sure that six-year-old dreamer achieves that dream. Because really every six-year-old just wants to be happy when they grow up.