It is getting close to the time where all the seniors will be walking out onto the football field dressed in uniform gowns. Maybe it is supposed to signify that we don’t really have anything except for ourselves, and a piece of paper in our hand. What does a diploma signify? What does it all mean? Have we really been going through these 12 years of schooling for a piece of paper?

    I should hope not. We go through school to learn and grow into adults. The sad thing is that when I look around, I still see the immature kids I grew up with. This makes me wonder. What is everyone going to do next, once the high school doors close and the college doors open? Once those four years are over with there will just be another piece of paper to file away somewhere or to keep in a frame on the wall.

     All I want to know is where are we going? What are we doing? People have plans for the future, but do they have goals? When people ask me what I am going to do after graduation I seem to say “I don’t know” not because I truly don’t know just because I don’t want to answer that question. (Up coming seniors should know now. The moment you become a senior everyone you know is going to be asking you where you are going to college and what you plan to do afterwards. It gets exhausting.)

    Don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled to move on and do better things with my life, it is just strange the way life works in general. Goals are so important, but no one seems to really have them anymore. Do people want to get older and have a big house with a two door garage and fancy cars, 2.5 kids and a dog? There is no diversity!

    I want to move far, far away. England, Ireland, Spain, Iceland, India. I want to travel the world, take pictures of things I see, eat amazing food, and sleep deep, maybe have a radio show, write a book, open a foreign film theater, eat far too many sweets, and be a mom (maybe).

    These are some of my goals. One of the most important things I learned in my 18 years of life is that you should keep track of all the things you want to accomplish in your lifetime. I made a list, and it amazed me all the things that I wanted. Months later I looked back, changed a few things and also realized how many things I had accomplished so far.

    The world is scary, and I will be the first one to admit it. It isn’t scary because of the people, or the places, but because there is so much to accomplish. It is hard to accomplish everything and sometimes people don’t know what to do with themselves once they graduate from high school, or even college. When I get frustrated with everything it is easy to forget where I am going, but I always have the list of all the experiences I want to do and see to keep me motivated.