Kate Irby

I grew up with slightly strict parents who treated freedom as a privilege, not a right. They gradually began to give me more freedom as I matured, and once it came I valued it more and more. This also means I began to realize that freedom, while a fundamental right for adults in this country, requires work.

I dreamt of the day I would turn sixteen since I was very young; I wanted to have a job to earn money and be able to drive on my own. These were my first real opportunities for independence from my parents and I couldn’t wait to experience them. I took the driver’s test as soon as I could and applied for jobs all over the area a week after my sixteenth birthday. I began to pay my own phone bill and whenever I wanted to eat out, go shopping, or see movies with friends I paid for it myself. Though not always a pleasant fact, I started to recognize that while money isn’t the key to happiness, it is to real freedom and independence.

My sister lead a complicated life in her late teens. She became pregnant at sixteen, dropped out of college, fired from her job, evicted from her apartment, and married someone without telling my parents. After she had her second child and she had told my parents about the marriage, her life thankfully calmed down. Now she is happy with her family and her life. But during all of that she was mostly dependent upon my parents or her boyfriend at the time. Now that she is married she depends on her husband financially, though of course he also depends on her to watch their kids. Watching all this happen to her frightened me and showed me why being responsible, going to college, and taking your education and career seriously is so important.

It is one of my worst fears that something will go wrong in my life and I will have to drop out of college or depend heavily on my parents after I graduate. While my sister loves being a housewife and is okay with asking my parents for occasional financial help, I don’t believe I would be nearly as happy as she is had my life taken the same route. I expect myself to be self-sufficient and take responsibility for my actions. Asking for money without feeling like I earned it always feels wrong to me, and one of my main goals is to experience a successful career that I enjoy. The most satisfying moments of my life are when my personal hard work has paid off: such as getting a raise at work, receiving scholarships, or being accepted into this class.

Both my family and friends have told me that I am very stubborn. I know what I want and I realize that to achieve my goals I have to be dedicated and sedulous. Opportunities are rarely, if ever, handed to anyone on a silver platter. If I expect to get the best out of my life I must create my own opportunities.