Déjà Vu by Michael

Déjà Vu by Michael - June 2019 Scholarship Essay

Déjà vu, described as "the feeling of having already experienced the present situation". As a teenager I knew what it meant, but was perhaps a little naive to the definition's full implications.
During my junior year at Mooresville High School, I was enrolled in college-level English. My teacher was a younger, energetic woman referred to as Mrs. Gobel. Now, my English and History classes were connected, and as such we would review literature at certain points in history as we progressed through America's timeline. An interesting aspect that Mrs. Gobel freely pointed out throughout the year was that history repeats itself. She explained that through the poems and stories we read, we could gather that the struggles the average American went through decades and even centuries ago would be relevant today. This seems like a topic your average history professor would say and students would absently nod and continue working. It wasn't until later in my life that I thought back on her words and how she had inadvertently given me a very important life lesson.
Two weeks ago on May 20th, 2019, I was robbed at gunpoint in my own home. I lost forty dollars, but more importantly, I lost my sense of security and trust. A mere eight days later, I was victim to a car crash that proved fatal to my little red car, totaling it. In the span of only a week I lost my inner peace, money, and transportation. With limited work hours and financial crisis on the rise, I fear losing my apartment and my friendship with my roommate. I am twenty years old, and yet I feel far older than that.
What has been my saving grace is the sense that history repeats itself. If I am to break this cycle of misfortune and pain I have to do it myself. I have to take charge of my life, be a little more selfish, and show the universe that I am not its victim. I am its champion. Mrs. Gobel's words sparked a late but vengeful fire in me. The nation, the world even, can have its sense of déjà vu, but not me. Today marks the start of my ownership over my life, in all aspects. To start, I write to you, to prove myself as a writer and aspiring college graduate. My education is just the start, the world has a lot more where this came from.