By: Princess Jones
October 4, 2012
2A
In the video of Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor and seven time Tour de France winner, a question is asked, “Who says we can’t do it?” Lance Armstrong replied, “You may only get one chance, so go for it!” Whenever I make reference to Lance Armstrong, the word persistent comes to mind. He embodies a persistent characteristic, and that’s the word I use to describe myself. To me, the quote is saying, you may only have one chance to do something right. Why wait till later, if you live to see, to make things right, when you can do it now. There is no reason not to fulfill it at that time.
Growing up with three female siblings and being the youngest, you have to always exercise persistence. In a family of six, we lived in a two-bedroom apartment. One room belonged to my mother and father, and my sisters and I shared the other room. It was four girls in one room and we shared everything! We not only shared beds, but the bathroom, clothes, shoes, hairbrushes, combs, and even Science Fair Projects. Sometimes by the time I received the “hand me downs”, things were slightly worn. However, I stayed persistent and didn’t give up when faced with challenges. I faced challenges when I was younger because I wasn’t considered “as pretty” or hair wasn’t as long as the rest of my siblings. But I didn’t let those phrases get under my skin. I always thought of myself as being prettier of them, even though my family didn’t think so. In dealing with school, my uncle always told me, “a grade of 99 is not good enough. Why go for 99 when you can get 100%?” He always makes me feel sad when I tell him the grades because he always has a long speech about it. But I never fail to keep my grades up and succeed in school. I do this that way I will get a scholarship. Being in this world seventeen years may not seem like a long time, but I have gone throughout many things that were challenging to me. I’ve experienced heartache,