Character Trait Essay for 'Dancing Naked' by Shelley Hrdlitschka

Choices. No matter how hard you try, you can never make all the right ones all the time. Not all decisions are hard, yet most important things aren’t easily achieved, and the journey and experiences you get will go with you forever. Kia was not always the altruistic attitude was not always evident in her decisions until she was forced to make the hardest decision of her teen life, yet after she makes the choices they form her into a different and wiser person. Kia is better at making tough decisions that most of us would rather not want to even think about. Although teen pregnancy has often been associated with issues of principles and authority, for many teens it is full of hard decisions and change. A pregnant teen not only has the emotional stresses of carrying a child, but the added pressure of being shunned by your friends and a disappointment in your family’s eyes. This was nearly the case with Kia, a sixteen year-old girl who only had sex once, yet that’s all it takes to be changed forever. When Kia first found out that she was pregnant, the first person she told other than her boyfriend, was her youth group leader at church, Justin; he accepted her with open arms and open heart. Her other friends reacted differently. They stopped asking her to parties and eventually stopped talking to her altogether showing that they were not all true friends. Devastated in the face of such a revelation, Kia’s relationship with Justin grew stronger and Kia eventually realized that she decided she needed to give the child away. Choosing to give away a child is one of the hardest things a parent can do, yet Kia knew that her baby would be better off with a family that could take care of it as best as possible. This caused Kia to become more selfless and think of others in ways she did not before. In the end Kia is made into a more altruistic version of herself and can see things in a new light, something that she will carry throughout her life. Kia, who is an