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This I Believe
By: Gabrielle Wiliams
1,000 words. I’m told that my smile is worth more than 1,000 words. Yet I smile and am still
misheard. Still misunderstood in so many ways and yet still I smile. Living in today’s generation the
world is portrayed in a way that suggests not everyone deserves the right to be heard or not
everyone is made to succeed. They doubt me and they tell me “you’re not smart enough”, “you’re
not even that good”, “why do you even try so hard”, “your expectations are too high”, but today all I
get from that is my expectations are not high enough. I get that there is always room for me to
improve, I get that If I do not believe in myself then no one will.
I believe that my voice is worth being heard, I believe that there is so much said in what we do not
say, I believe that EVERYONE deserves a chance to be heard.
Growing up I always struggled to find myself. I knew I wanted to be twice as good as those who had
everything handed to them, I knew I did not want to end up how I was perceived to end up, I knew I
had a drive for success. But what I did not know was who I, Gabrielle was. It felt like searching within
the deepest abyss trying to find myself. And because I could not allow myself to believe that I was
worthy, I let people convince me that I was not worthy and that I did not deserve the right to speak
up. So, for years as a child I spent my life questioning myself and doubting everything that I believed
in. I stayed quiet. It hurt. For me there was no pain deeper than the feeling of being misunderstood.
People walked over me, bullied me, took advantage of me all because I refused to speak up for
myself. This phase of my life occurred for years of my childhood, but little did I know that I was in
light of a life changing awakening.
I met someone. My middle school teacher. I could never relate to the students around me, but I
could easily open up to this teacher and feel good about myself. He encouraged me, mentored me,
and most importantly taught me. Not just the basics of arithmetic and language arts however, he
taught me a lesson that I will forever hold in my heart. He taught me that everything within myself
was worth it, most importantly, my voice. He changed my life.
