Diego Eduardo Flores Hernandez, Grade 11
UWC Mahindra
UWC brings together such a variety of values in the academic system that is impossible not to get inspired. But for me, the thing that inspires me the most in UWC is the students. All the student body comes from different backgrounds and countries, making every single of their stories interesting to someone that has never been in their position. These stories most of the time pass under the radar because we don’t talk about them out loud. However, when they come out, they do it in an organic way, that always touches you as a human being and inspires you in some sort of way.
One of these stories came out in my English B class when my teacher asked us about our relationship with literature and how has literature touched us. I was passing by some tough times, the constant pressure of being a UWC student was really affecting me in every aspect of my life, so in a way, I ended writing my thoughts and feelings to understand them better. So, at this moment, I was kind of in contact with writing but not as a formal expression of literature. Anyways, everyone started sharing their favorite books and how they changed their perspectives of life, how they started reading, how they quitted reading, and the influence their favorite author had on their lives until it was the turn of a student that we will call Juan. Juan was a student that came from a communist country, meaning he was facing many problems related to this political system. These problems are known by everyone, going from lack of basic needs to lack of liberty of expression. I knew before that literature could be big support whenever a person is facing problems, but when he stood up and said “literature saved my life” I couldn’t believe it.
He started describing how he met literature, saying that it was one of the first gifts his mother gave him. His mom introduced literature to him by giving him his first poetry book, which was from Neruda. Then, he continued talking about how literature stood by his side when things in his country started going wrong, being one strong pillar in his life. Then another problem came, his parents lost their job due to the crisis and they were having a really tough time in order to live, but he didn’t forget about his love for literature, in fact, it was one of the times in which he was closer with it. He started writing his own feelings, ideas, and complaints against the world, making the text a way to escape from reality and to transform that mix of negative feelings into something beautiful as poetry. It was really shocking to me, I thought in how difficult is to think in art whenever you are in a circumstance that threatens your direct survival. I was really surprised about how he dealt with it, giving me a new perspective of how brave he is. And I was even more shocked whenever he told us that he had 2 published books of poetry that generated enough money to pay themselves. I was really surprised that even when things went wrong, he was following his dreams, risking his own wellness by investing his capital in publishing a book. But all stories have a happy ending, things started going better, he won a full scholarship to UWC Mostar, his parents gain a new job and his desire of becoming a poet grew a lot.
Hearing his story changed a lot my perspective about my dreams, especially the ones related to literature. I realized I had the chance to express what I am leaving through stories or poems, making something beautiful with the pain I suffer. Also, he inspired me to start working on my first book and participating in literature contests, not fearing about what is going to happen, but rather concentrated on getting to the goal, willing to sacrifice something because who doesn’t risk anything, doesn’t deserve to win.
One of these stories came out in my English B class when my teacher asked us about our relationship with literature and how has literature touched us. I was passing by some tough times, the constant pressure of being a UWC student was really affecting me in every aspect of my life, so in a way, I ended writing my thoughts and feelings to understand them better. So, at this moment, I was kind of in contact with writing but not as a formal expression of literature. Anyways, everyone started sharing their favorite books and how they changed their perspectives of life, how they started reading, how they quitted reading, and the influence their favorite author had on their lives until it was the turn of a student that we will call Juan. Juan was a student that came from a communist country, meaning he was facing many problems related to this political system. These problems are known by everyone, going from lack of basic needs to lack of liberty of expression. I knew before that literature could be big support whenever a person is facing problems, but when he stood up and said “literature saved my life” I couldn’t believe it.
He started describing how he met literature, saying that it was one of the first gifts his mother gave him. His mom introduced literature to him by giving him his first poetry book, which was from Neruda. Then, he continued talking about how literature stood by his side when things in his country started going wrong, being one strong pillar in his life. Then another problem came, his parents lost their job due to the crisis and they were having a really tough time in order to live, but he didn’t forget about his love for literature, in fact, it was one of the times in which he was closer with it. He started writing his own feelings, ideas, and complaints against the world, making the text a way to escape from reality and to transform that mix of negative feelings into something beautiful as poetry. It was really shocking to me, I thought in how difficult is to think in art whenever you are in a circumstance that threatens your direct survival. I was really surprised about how he dealt with it, giving me a new perspective of how brave he is. And I was even more shocked whenever he told us that he had 2 published books of poetry that generated enough money to pay themselves. I was really surprised that even when things went wrong, he was following his dreams, risking his own wellness by investing his capital in publishing a book. But all stories have a happy ending, things started going better, he won a full scholarship to UWC Mostar, his parents gain a new job and his desire of becoming a poet grew a lot.
Hearing his story changed a lot my perspective about my dreams, especially the ones related to literature. I realized I had the chance to express what I am leaving through stories or poems, making something beautiful with the pain I suffer. Also, he inspired me to start working on my first book and participating in literature contests, not fearing about what is going to happen, but rather concentrated on getting to the goal, willing to sacrifice something because who doesn’t risk anything, doesn’t deserve to win.
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