El Sol es Mi Amigo

The sun shines on both the good and evil in the world. It does not pick and choose whom to grace with its light and warmth; It doesn’t see one person to be more deserving than another. That being said, the sun is my friend; No, I’m not a super hippie, it’s just been said, “que camina con y te diré quién eres” or “tell me who you walk with and I’ll tell you who you are.”

I’ve been across the country and around the world doing service for all kinds of people, but it wasn’t until I encountered the vivacious diversity of UMBC that I truly desired to befriend our sun. I suppose it’s harder to accept and look deeper into people different than your self within your home rather than where you’re a guest. On move in day of my first semester of college, I met two boys who were, quite frankly, strange and made me a little uncomfortable. But then, when my room was incessantly invaded by gossip thirsty girls, the room across the hall, belonging to the two boys I mentioned, was where I went to escape. It was always a lighthearted atmosphere, exploding of the healthy competition that FIFA provokes. It was there that I found refuge and my uncanny skill for FIFA.

Now, it was then that I decided that it’s to my benefit to give opportunity to everyone to find and give solace and edification in me and I in them—just like my friend, the sun. I now live by the saying, “Seek to understand, rather than to be understood”. I will humble myself, not by bringing myself down, but by raising others up—up to the light of the sun. This way, I’ll see them all the more clearly and perhaps allow their reflection to enhance my own.