There are a lot of things you aren’t taught in school. When we are young, we don’t realize that adding numbers together and identifying state capitals aren’t the most important things in life. We sit at our desks and worry about what grade we’re going to get in our classes or if we spent enough time studying for our next test. We learn things like how to add numbers together or what the hidden meanings are in classic books. But it wasn’t sitting in a classroom that I learned that the world wasn’t always a pretty place, and sometimes monsters disguised themselves as humans.
It was growing up where I learned that sometimes we were our worst enemies, not the kids who were mean to us at recess. It’s when you realize that the scariest things aren’t the monsters under your bed, but instead the ones inside your head. We grow up thinking about how precious a blooming flower is or how beautiful storms paint the sky. It isn’t until we’re older that we realize flowers die and storms can be dangerous. School doesn’t teach us how to prepare for the troubles of the world. We aren’t taught how to fix our feet after stepping on broken glass or how to sew up our hearts when they break. We learn through experience.
It wasn’t in a classroom where I learned what it meant to grow up. That the world isn’t always fair and bad things happen to people who are good. School doesn’t teach us how dangerous people can be. Many bad things have happened in the past year alone that don’t seem to make any sense. Nobody understands why people commit murder or rape or steal. Nobody can tell you the reason that a drunk person gets behind the wheel or someone feels like they have to hurt themselves just to feel anything. I didn’t learn in school that it takes a lot not to let the world destroy your hope.
It’s hard not to see the bad things that go on around us. It’s hard to not let those bad experiences ruin the good experiences. We’re forced to stand tall and face the world head on, otherwise it’ll knock us down and we’ll never be able to get back up. Growing up and learning these things is difficult. But it’s okay. Growing up prepares us for the world a thousand times more than a classroom does. When something bad does happen, we have to remember that without the bad, we wouldn’t be able to recognize the good. Growing up, I learned about these bad things, but I also learned about the good things.
I learned that some people will do anything for the ones they love. I learned that if we recognize and appreciate the little things in life, then the world isn’t so bad. Growing up, I’ve realized that what we are taught in school doesn’t matter as much as learning who we are. Growing up is scary and hard and eye-opening, but I’d be damned if it wasn’t one of the most amazing things in the world. When we grow up, we experience the world around us: the good, the bad, and everything in between. It’s just up to us to figure out whether we will let the bad experiences tear us down, or if we will use them to continue to learn and grow up to be someone amazing.
