On Making Sacrifices

I can think of a dozen things I would rather be doing on a Friday morning other than sitting at my
natural gas supplier`s office, yet here I am. And based on the expression on other people’s faces,
I’m not the only one who is not happy about waiting for their number to be called. I don’t usually
mind waiting, but I have a writing workshop to attend at 12 and 140 people before it is my turn.
Since none of my house mates can take my place right now, the best thing I can do is to grab a
pen, open up my notebook, and start writing an essay so as to make my time count.

I share my apartment with two friends and we get along great. We usually run errands based on
our schedules: whoever is free goes and pays the bills or waits for the gas specialist to come
inspect our house. But today none of us was free, so I had to sacrifice my class to come here in
hopes of getting our gas reconnected this afternoon. When you share a house or have common
goals and interests with other people, the only way to get things done and make the relationship
work is to be considerate, help each other out, and make sacrifices every now and then. During
these years I’ve learned how important it is to ask my friends first before inviting people over or
throwing a party, because we are all in school and sometimes all they need is a peaceful and quiet
place to study. I know it bothers me when my noisy wanna-be-DJ upper floor neighbors play
deafening music. People tell me I should just deal with it and that part of living in a building is
getting used to other people’s annoying habits, but if we had the same attitude towards other
aspects of our lives living in a society would be chaotic if not impossible. If we can listen to music
at a lower volume and still enjoy the sound, why do my neighbors have to turn it up to the very
loudest? I guess no matter how many times I try talking to them about the code of conduct, they
care more about themselves than about the rest of us.

Individuals might think alike but never exactly the same way. Even politicians who are in the same
party disagree at times. But if they didn’t leave some of their interests aside and listened to each
other, laws wouldn’t be passed, elections couldn’t be held, and countries wouldn’t exist (after all,
at some point in history people agreed on the borders and political organization of their
homelands).

Even Disney movies teach us that to have a happy ending we must make sacrifices. Take Ariel, the
little mermaid, as an example: she wanted legs so she could live by the prince’s side on land, but
had to give up her voice in exchange. From a symbolic point of view, that sacrifice says more about
her submissive character than about how to get to an agreement or find happiness; I would never
give up my voice, my beliefs, values, and opinions to make a man love me. Because no man’s
appreciation is more important than myself, and princes charming do not exist. One thing is to
make the bed in the morning even if you hate it because your partner likes a tidy room, and a very
different thing is to change who you are because it would make them “happy”.

When making sacrifices we can either focus on the loss or focus on the reward, but if we choose to
focus on the latter our chances of succeeding increase. I find athletes to be great role models who
with hard work, dedication, and a positive attitude, prove to the world that ambitious goals can be
achieved. And to achieve glory sacrifices must be made. Take one of my favorite athletes, Usain
Bolt, as an example of that. He works to exhaustion every single day of the week, and gets up early
every morning knowing that at some point during his track training he might get sick to his
stomach of pushing himself so hard. Usain loves playing soccer but he is forbidden to do so
because he could get injured, which would affect his career terribly. Life’s too short to deprive
yourself of doing what makes you happy, or so they say, but sometimes it is necessary to weight
up your options and prioritize the ones that matter to you the most. I’m sure that every time he
crosses the finish line and proves once again that he is indeed the fastest man alive, he is
reassured that it was all worth it.

The first thing that most people say when they learn that I’m about to graduate is that they’re
jealous of me. Well, I am happy to say that I’m not jealous of them, at least now I’m not. Yet
during the past 5 years I have been, many times. In order to pass all of my classes I had to stay
home and study while they were out clubbing and having fun. I didn’t get as much sleep, or went
on as many dates, or had extra school activities as they did. On the contrary, I spent most
afternoons “hanging out” with my dictionaries, notes, and books. My mom always said it would be
worth it in the end, and now I can see she was right because if things had been different I wouldn’t
be this close from reaching my goal. As Arnold Schwarzenegger, seven times Mr. Olympia, once
said, “You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pocket.” My hands are tired
and hurting, but I’m finally getting there. And I’m also ready to climb many more ladders in the
near future.

Life’s about winning and losing, gaining and giving up. As necessary rain is for rainbows, sacrifice is
for success. I might have just lost 2 hours of my day sitting in an office, but at least got my job
done. Now I have a new essay finished, and they’re calling my number.