“How many of us are writers?”
“All of us, I suppose.”
The story of our lives is being written this very second. In every word we say, every journal entry we write, all of our wall posts and text messages and supermarket receipts are evidence of our existence, of the way we lived. Our records are the only thing people three hundred years from now will be able to judge our generation by when they’re writing their history books... or more likely, their history eBooks. We’re all participating in the shaping of this, this place, this time, this era. We’re all writing it through our actions and our reactions.
My goal is to write a story worth telling, in the way I treat others, and the way I express myself to my friends and my community. I want to make a difference in the people around me, because I am affecting every single person I come in contact with. I am changing their life.
“We are the sum of all the people we have ever met,” as Dirk Wittenborn said in Fierce People. I want to be important in the lives of as many people as possible. It’s not about being a celebrity in the eyes of many people; it’s about having a positive effect, even if you forget my name.
I am a sixteen-year-old girl living in Wantagh and I am a writer. I am a scientist. I am a historian. I use the Internet way too much and drink tea when I’m feeling like Jane Austen; I watch Pretty Little Liars and play Just Dance 3 with my friends on the weekends.
I know absolutely nothing about things of importance, according to some people. I only know about things that are important to me, my family, and the people that write the AP and regents exams. It is impossible for someone to write, and write well, about something they deem unimportant.
As I arrive into the world of Internet journalism and start the development of my own voice in this community, I can only guarantee honesty and curiosity. I want to do something important. I want to leave a mark on the people around me, and hope that it is a positive one.
I will write for one purpose, and that is for thought. I hope that I will be important in a way that causes this community to think abstractly, innovatively, and in a way that helps us write a story that can be looked back upon with respect in three hundred years.
But we are all writers, I suppose.
Jaclyn Onufrey is a sophomore at
