Gregory

I've gone through many interesting developments throughout my life. Even in the relatively short amount that I have lived so far. First, I was an adventurous free-thinking and imaginative child who was friends with anyone and everyone. That child was also very good at whatever he put his mind to. After that, I was the cancer patient at eleven years old, and the adolescent that never seemed to be able to regain his strength and altheticism. I became a thinker and a philosopher. For my mind seemed to be the best option to improve upon. By High School I fully felt the effects of being a prisoner. One would often find me aloof and staring out the window in some kind of fantasy. I turned to writing as I seemed to loathe the world. I had great friends, however, and we mutally writhed our way through with little freedom we could find in our everyday interations.

High School still remained, for the most part, too much of a prison to me, but as luck would have it an oppurtunity was presented over the anouncements. I had chosen to become an exchange student and transfer to a different prison somewhere else in the world, but I knew it would be a lesson well needed. For in Brazil I had found more courage, and more interest in honesty and empathy. Matter of fact, I had negotiated a deal to leave my prison in Brazil and seek an interest of mine. I was welcomed into a local fireman's symphony band where I made the best of friends. It was an amazing and life changing year in Brazil as I traveled the country taking in as much as I could. The year came to an end, however, and I felt a bit of ambivalence of emotion about my return.

By my senior year it was completely clear to me. That I was a prisoner, and my sole goal was to remain free from the shackles. Classes were unengaging, but I did not care for I began to search my own interests. Still, during all of this, I remained a confused adolescent seeming stuck in puberty for I hadn't developed the emotional foundation necessary in sexual/intimacy exploration and development. As much as I may have had a good grasp on reality I did not, however, have a complete understanding of myself clouded by the expectations of society and culture. Regardless, senior year came to a close, and I was glad to finally be free, using the term loosely.

I seethed with contempt at the idea of attending college. I did not want to check myself into another prison, as I saw it, so I opted to attend a trade school instead. First, to obtain financial security, so I could concentrate my efforts on understanding myself more. For if I understood myself some more I would know my true passion and goals in life. The risk was worth it, as things so elegantly pieced together like a well played game of chess, and I had checkmate. I secured a position as an echocardiographer at the hospital I had interned. The time had come for me to start self examining.

Even though, I had spent the entirety of my life soul searching, especially after cancer, I was still incapacitated by fear of rejection, dejection, and hatred. I also feared nothing other than myself, and who I could become. I knew, however, that if I was to become the ideal man that I imagined in my mind that I was to find to courage to live up to certain virtues I had always held dear. Honesty, was the first. I had found the courage to let my family and my friends into my mind. The mind that I had feared so much. The mind that kept me in my own prison. I revealed to them all of which I was petrified to tell the most, and with great luck I was treated with understanding and love. It was the best encouragement I could have ever received. Not long after, I had come across Stefan Molyneux on youtube and Freedomain Radio, and it was even a greater push in my personal and philosophical maturity.

From that moment on I found the mettle to seek who I really was. Amazingly, the courage and honesty I had found seemed to weed out the people who would only bring harm into my life, and I had the insight to realize this. I understood that I truly was a good person. That I could find the courage to stand up for my virtues and become the man I saw in my mind. The free, honest, empathetic, loving, fair, and accepting person I am today, and actually always had the capacity to be.

*Hugs to everyone!!* ^^