The Six Year Old Me by Smith

The Six Year Old Me by Smith - June 2017 Scholarship Essay

It is almost a mystery of what Ryan wanted to be as a young boy. Growing up in the great white north of Minnesota did not give this young boy much of an opportunity go out and experience the world. It was a habit of his to look out the cold frosted window wondering what it would be like to go outside and experience the world. Ryan was not much of a reader but he did enjoy looking at the pictures surrounding the words. After months, too scared to go outside, for he thought he would freeze like the icicles he saw dripping off the side of his house, he started pondering of his past, present, and future. "Where did I come from?", "why am I here?", and "where am I going?" These deep questions of the soul hit him like a ton of bricks. After minutes, days, weeks, maybe even years, how was he to know how long, he is six, he decided he would do what he could to answer this question. He started at the best resource he could think of-his mother.
Kristen, Ryan's mother, was the impatient type when it came to listening to the questions and desires of a young six year old boy. As he began to ask the questions of his soul, she began to answer them the best she could. She began talking about birds and bees for some unknown reason. The answers she gave were not the ones he was looking for or wanted. After arguing with his so called "brilliant mother", he stormed off to his room, and cried. Ryan was frustrated and discouraged. He asked the one he looked up to most and felt would have to be able to answer these questions. As he laid under his covers, curled up in a ball, wiping the tears off his swollen six year old eyes, and suddenly remembered something his mom had once told him.
The words that began to go through Ryan's six year old mind were all the kind things his mother had told him over the years. "You're so smart, funny, kind, hard working, determined, etc". All of these kind things remembered, dried his tears, and brought a smile to his face. Thinking of these things reminded him of some of the pictures inside of the books he looked at and how happy some of the characters in the book were.
Quickly, he ran to the book shelf and began to look through them trying to find the answer to his questions. Ryan looked through all the pictures in practically all the books on the book shelf, until he came across one that brought him to tears again. The tears were not tears of sadness or of pain, they were tears of happiness and joy. The picture he was looking at was a picture of a happy family. At that moment, Ryan knew where he came from, why he was hear, and where he was going. What he recognized is that he came from his parents, so he could make them happy, and that they were there to teach him to how to have happy family one day just like the one in the picture and the one he has.
This day changed the course for the rest of the life of Ryan. Everything he did was based off his dream of being coming a father one day. It helped drive him to make decisions that he knew would be hard but would be best for his future family. Now he is a young man, fighting through the Minnesota cold, and other challenges of the world, coming out more successful than those around him.
This is the story of Ryan, the young boy who received an answer to his questions, which caused him to be determined and successful in all he does to this day.