Why Should Words Define Us? | Teen Ink

Why Should Words Define Us?

January 24, 2016
By leldukair BRONZE, Riyadh, Other
leldukair BRONZE, Riyadh, Other
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

If you could choose any sentence to define you, what would it be? Well what is a sentence? The dictionary defines it as “a set of words that is complete in itself, typically containing a subject and predicate, conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or command.” (dictionary.com). Today, many great philosophers, inventors, and political activists are remembered through a specific string of words, phrases, or proverbs. If I were to ask you “Who is Albert Einstein?” , would you think of the german-born physicist who helped build the pillars of modern physics or would the phrase “Eureka!” pop into your head? Einstein was much more than a mere phrase, yet that is what he is eternally associated with.

 

In my nearly 16 years of existence on this planet, I cannot say I have changed the world as we know it or even impacted it in the slightest way. Incidents and events BOOM, gaining societies attention, then in a split second diminish among the infinite stories and gossip today's society is bound by.

     

The other day a friend of mine looked downhearted. I asked her whats wrong, but she didn't seem to want to think about it, so I offered her a hug. In a fraction of a second she tried to let go, but I held on and hugged her even tighter, so she did the same. After we finally stopped hugging, we left our separate ways and headed to class.

 

The next day she came up to me and said; "Thank you". I was surprised and quite frankly confused. I had honestly forgotten that I hugged her that day, after all it was just a hug. So I asked her "why?". She then explained that she was having a bad day and I had made it the slightest bit better. A simple deed, a common act, changed her emotional state for the entire day. That single act of kindness, made no difference to me, but a worlds difference to her.


So let me ask you, would you rather people remember you by a single action or characteristic? Or through multiple acts that touched individual peoples hearts? Personally, I would not want to be defined by a single achievement or trait. I would rather each individual to remember me through an action I personally did for each, and every one of them. Whether it was going to a concert together and having the time of our lives, or if its a simple but life altering complement said to a stranger who needed to feel valuable. I want to be remembered for what I had done, not for what people think I had done.

 

They say that you die twice. Once when your heart stops, and a second when a person thinks your name for the last time. I want my sentence to alter with each glance. I want my memory to be everlasting and bright. I want to be characterized by each person's greatest thought of me. MY sentence is me. MY sentence is what I represent. MY sentence is who I am.

What is yours?



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