When you think of the youngest in the house, you often think of them being the center of attention. People think of Mom and Dad loving the youngest the most, giving them the most attention, and even telling the older sibling, "Why can't you be more like your little brother/sister?" That is the question that any sibling would hate to hear and unfortunately for me, it was the case a number of times.
The reason why I have had that question asked to me throughout my life is because if you erase all the good that I have brought upon myself and others, the only thing people remember me by are all the times I have made a mistake or hurt someone in some way. Growing up with an older sibling didn't make things easier as he was the overwhelming favorite. He had it all (and still does): the attitude, how mature he was, the intelligence, the respect, and the profound authority over me. To top it off, he was given a talent that he was able to take and build upon throughout his whole life. How can anyone compete with that?
While I personally don't believe writing and speaking are my natural talents, people sure do act like they are; however, there are two things wrong with that. Firstly, I have never considered writing a talent. I have always considered it a skill and ability that you need to do in order to make it through school and college. Being good at it is a bonus. The same goes for speaking. People may consider having a soothing, rhythmical, or powerful speaking voice a talent, but it's not when you think about it. People speak the way they speak and if a place of business in that field of communication believes their voice is professional enough, a career can come with it.
The second and biggest problem with it is that area of wisdom and strength seems to be the only way I have ever been able to be successful in. What I mean by that is people have never trusted me with anything except for writing. For example, when I first started college, I did not have good grades in anything except for English and writing classes. The support I got from my peers and sometimes even my parents appeared to be, "He'll be fine. He can write well." Never minding the fact that I barely passed all my other classes, the fact that I was proficient in English and writing seemed to be the only area of concern that people had for me.
Here's the case: sometimes people get overshadowed by others that get more love and, in most cases, do what you are good at better than you. My older brother has gotten all the attention and the credit over the years. What bothers me most about it is that he never took writing seriously and it was not his passion, but his writing was a hell of a lot better than mine. Years would go by where his art and his writing would win him attention and some prizes. He made it to an art school where his work was compared to Da Vinci by a professor and excelled in his work. Today, he lives on his own with a job in his study. Meanwhile, I was in community college with a small job as an editor in my school's paper and no one was paying attention. That is what has happened to me: I have been overshadowed.
All I ever did was build myself around my ability to write. Does anyone know that in my two and a half years at Lakeland Community College, there was not one professor that did not at least enjoy my writing? Did you know that I won rookie columnist of the year at Lakeland in 2015? Did you know that I replaced a beat writer's position at Lakeland because the editor thought my writing was more appropriate than hers? In fact, that person I replaced in the position was so jealous of my writing and of me, that she tried to get me kicked off the paper and we busted her for it. Since I have been going to Cleveland State, this is the closest I have gotten to a job in my major. While my news writing professor thought my work was amateurish, another professor loved my writing. Last semester, I worked in a group with three other people on a final essay project that counted for 90 percent of our final grade. The group agreed that I would type the paper out. The professor personally emailed me telling me she loved my essay so much. She said it was the best in the class and she wanted to save it so she could show it to future students as a model on how to do the essay.So how does it feel for me to be the youngest? It's something that I have had to deal with and live with my whole life. Constantly having to sit back and watch my older brother become more successful and get all the praise is one of the worst feelings there is. I know that there are people that do appreciate my work, but I often believe that I am doing it for no good. Perhaps this could be a blessing in disguise that I am going unnoticed, but to have some sort of appreciation and acknowledgment given to me means more than you think.