Monday, February 13, 2012

The First Woman President

When I was in fifth grade, I went on a whale-watching field trip. I remember being excited, shoving the crumpled $20 bill my dad handed me, deep into my back pocket with the money I had previously collected from my mom.

I hopped into the front seat with Dad. He never drove me to school, but today, I had to be at school by 6 AM and Dad had so graciously offered to take me. I smiled up at him as he drove me 20 minutes away to my school. I looked up at my dad, filled with admiration at the man that had raised me.

He turned and smiled back at me and we began to talk. Somehow the conversation got to the topic of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I beamed at my dad when he asked me the question, and without any hesitation I blurted out, "I'm going to be the President of the United States."

I know that every kid that is born and raised in the US-at least once- dreams of becoming the President. What separates me from all of those kids is that my dad was probably as excited, if not more, for my campaign for President.

At once, he began coming up with slogans for me! Telling me, an innocent 11-year-old who knew nothing about politics, and just happened to be sitting in his passenger seat, who would be on my cabinet, who my vice president would be, and what party I would run for.

I was elated. Forget that I had no idea what he was saying, but he actually thought I could become president!

The reason that this story is so important is because I was raised to believe that I could honestly become anything I wanted to be. It didn't matter if I was a girl, it didn't matter if I was a Muslim, it didn't matter if I was only 11 years old! I could be whatever I wanted; whoever I wanted.

So, for anyone that decides to read this story, I want to be that figure, that my dad was for me, for you.

Stop worrying about everything that you believe is holding you back. Stop using those things as excuses. The only thing holding you back from attaining whatever- whoever- you want to be, is yourself. So throw away all of your inhibitions, and seek out that personality that you want to strive to embody.

Really think about this, and ask yourself: Who do you want to be?