My hero is a man named Leon Ebright. He was was a youth
worker at first then he was my mentor then he was a member of the family. I
first meet him in grade 4, and when I first saw him thought he was just going to
be like the others, here for the money not much else. The first few weeks I was
pretty indifferent to him and our talks didn’t seem like much, but now I look
back and I see just how much he helped me. I now have an unbelievable amount
of respect for that great man who helped change my life and years later still
takes the time to ask me how I am doing. He helped me through hard times like
when my parents were drinking in the back room (they don’t any more and haven’t
for years), or when i was bullied in school, or when i was struggling with my
grades. I could tell him things that I just couldn’t tell my parents and he
help me through it all. He is my hero.
Life is like a void and our goal is to fit the puzzle pieces
in the empty spaces, but how can we do that? We often say that our lives are
mysterious and we can never figure them out, well of course we can, we just need
a little courage. The truth is within us, we just need to find ourselves to see
it. I believe we were placed on this planet for a reason and that we have a
purpose in life, and most don't see that, so instead most of us are focused too
much on the things we want, and the things
people do, thinking there is something to gain from it, like there is some sort
of answer. We also go through a lot of confusion and are lost. Most of us treat
our lives like a burden and that there is no meaning, but really there is. Every single one of us has a purpose, and a destiny we are just blind to see
that we are the answer and the missing puzzle pieces. Most of us go through a
constant fear of failure and that’s okay we were to built to fail. The only
way to deal with it it is to learn from those problems and mistakes and to
improve and to do better. It sounds difficult, but that's how life is and that's
what we were engineered to become better, there's a big chunk of you that is waiting to be found we just
need the courage to search for it.
-By Ickan Ocampo
Vulnerability surrounds my life and has since before I was born. Two months early I took my first breaths on the same day Elvis took his last, just two decades and a year late. Born to an Aboriginal Mother and Father, a Two-spirited god-father and a Catholic god-mother. Who would have guessed that I would disregard the later and take so heavily after the former in later years? As a whole I am a First Nations, premature, two-spirited person with low self esteem and fall time depression (despite it being my favourite season). All together it sounds like a recipe for disaster, with the chances of violence, terrible health, isolation, and high chances of suicide, with rates what they are for "people like me". It's hard to deal with the knowledge that if I stay out too late in town I will be j"ust another statistic". You’d think it's just a paranoid fear, and god do I wish it was, but 4 out of 8 of my brothers (either adopted, my dad as theirs, or biological, but my brothers nonetheless) have been attacked by a white supremacist gang called “The White Gorillas”. I'm just lucky my brothers are a lot stronger than what their gentle smiles and thin frames suggest. Despite my fears and conditions I fight an internal battle against fatigue and intrusive thoughts, trying to boost my self esteem, and steady my resolve. When I find the strength to ignore my fears that I fear or the pain I will find because of my race, gender, or romantic orientation, I feel that much stronger, that much safer. Since there is really no way to change some people's opinions I just have to suck it up and be brave enough to live life as I want and try stay as safe as I can.
-Muggs
A great song.
I
feel a fear of losing. I am pretty competitive in many things and I don’t like to
lose. I like the compensation of winning, or being better, or feeling like I can
do better. I embrace my vulnerability if my fear of losing because it motivates
me to do better. I always start feeling like there is someone who is
better than me in whatever I do. To stop myself from feeling that negativity and vulnerability, I
joined Progressive Fighting Academy. PFA teaches Muay Thai, Kickboxing, jiu
jitsu, and wrestling. I used to act pretty competitive about how "tough" I was. I had a friend who was in kickboxing and was interested in MMA, but I also had a friend who joined boxing. Because I am motivated by
people around me and my fear of losing, I joined Progressive Fighting Academy
to stop the feeling of people being "tougher" than me and to cover up holes that
I have which eliminate my ability to win or do better. After some time in MMA, I have lost the fear of losing. I now focus on making
improvements on what I do and I try to improve other people’s skill instead of
just worrying about myself. After some time training, I have slowed down and mostly do
training for fun. I am excited to get back into training since my mother won’t
let me compete until I am 18, so I hadn’t been training as much lately.
-Nicco Cantillas
My hero is a man named Leon Ebright. He was was a youth
worker at first then he was my mentor then he was a member of the family. I
first meet him in grade 4, and when I first saw him thought he was just going to
be like the others, here for the money not much else. The first few weeks I was
pretty indifferent to him and our talks didn’t seem like much, but now I look
back and I see just how much he helped me. I now have an unbelievable amount
of respect for that great man who helped change my life and years later still
takes the time to ask me how I am doing. He helped me through hard times like
when my parents were drinking in the back room (they don’t any more and haven’t
for years), or when i was bullied in school, or when i was struggling with my
grades. I could tell him things that I just couldn’t tell my parents and he
help me through it all. He is my hero.
