Opportunity

be one of those weekly orderers of meat-lovers double cheese pizza. See how crazy this is? So the world is changing right before me. I have a handful of neighbors who are all under seven years old; they were born in the 2010s! I have vivid memories of the 2010s! I feel like the entire world should revolve around me - the entire world should age with me. But it won’t.

28 My one friend is an unofficial philosopher and a firm believer that life has no meaning. One day, everyone will die. This does not mean, however, that you should not try to live a good and successful life. This only means that your life will ultimately mean nothing. And I believe that is true… almost. He asked me before this simple question: What is the meaning of your life, Erin? What keeps you motivated? He does not believe that there is any real reason for him to move through the world. And considering that my life up until now has made utterly no permanent impact on the world, I have had to reexamine this question.

It is a fact of life that not everyone - yes, NOT everyone - will be remembered in this world. I believe that anyone can make themselves noteworthy, but I also believe that only those destined to make a mark on the world will do just that. I do not know if I am meant to make a mark on the world, and I would rather not concern myself with that thought process too much. I am not going to change the world by doing something that I am not passionate about - so that is where I decided to start my discussion on the meaning of life: passion. Having a passion means having the true love of something (singular or plural). It could be a person, an object, a sport, a game… anything, really! I have determined that I possess two passions: soccer and writing. First, I have dreamt since the fifth grade of moving to England someday so that I can work for the English Premier League, own Chelsea FC season tickets, and play pick-up soccer with people out on the streets. I traveled to Germany on a couple of occasions, and on both trips, I was able to play pick-up with some locals, and in both scenarios, those games were the highlights of my trips! I love playing soccer. I love the competition, the drive, the desire to win, the commitment, the teamwork, etc. Second, I absolutely love to write. I have written novels since I was in fourth grade, and I have finally finished a good one that I’m hoping to soon publish! Writing is my outlet to release my feelings and my creativity. It unleashes my real personality that dull schoolwork seems to lock inside of my head. Therefore, I achieve a sense of happiness when I am playing/watching soccer or when I am writing. So when my friend asked me what the meaning of my life is, I responded that it is to be happy. Not everyone is meant to make their mark on the world so the least you can do is make your time on Earth as enjoyable as possible. I have always played soccer, and I have always written stories or novels, but up until this year, something 32