"In the depth of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer." - Albert Camus There's a reason this quote was the very first thing I put on my profile. In my second year of middle school, I became obsessed with philosophy. Eventually, I found Albert Camus. A French philosopher who founded the ideas of Absurdism. He says that life is inherently absurd. It is cruel and unforgiving, yet the crazy part is that humans cling to it with everything they have. He believes the best way to go through life is to fight back against the cruelness of the world by enjoying life as much as possible. Through passion and love for others. I originally found this quote in those budding years of my philosophy hobby. I didn't think much of it. I was severely depressed after having lost my grandfather, and at the time it was just pointless words. But after rediscovering it some years later I found how god damned true it was. Even thought at the time I had ignored it; I had found my invincible summer in Camus philosophy. Despite my grandfathers loss, despite feeling the most horrible I had ever or have ever felt in my entire life. I fought, and eventually tore myself out of depression. It means so much more to me than something I look to to motivate myself. It tells my very own story. It's something I look to and cherish, knowing exactly what Camus meant when he said it. We never truly know how strong we are until we are at our weakest. We are never more motivated to be better people than when we are at our worst.

The answer to "why gerrymandering is dangerous" seems to be a pretty simple one. It prevents a true representation of the peoples beliefs in what should be a representative democracy. But there is of course a little more to that. It is already unconstitutional. According to Shaw v. Reno, the supreme court has already decided that racial gerrymandering, where district lines are drawn in order to suppress the power of racial minorities, was in violation of the 14th amendment. I don't see why "equal protection under the law", wouldn't apply to political beliefs as well. As in our current system of gerrymandering, instead of racial groups being repressed, it is those with various political beliefs that don't get equal representation in our government. Despite the fact that it is deserved. America has it's philosophical founding in the enlightenment. And not having a voice in our political system was one of the core principles of our revolution. Allowing gerrymandering to continue to violate not only those principles but our constitution in and of itself would make people lose faith in our democracy. We need to ensure that voting fairly represents our people, or risk our democracy. However there are solutions. Personally I am a believer in the "shortest-splitline" method. Where districts are drawn via the shortest line that can be drawn to split a population in half. It takes the power of district drawing out of the hands of corruptible politicians and into the hands of math. It also addresses certain issues like odd numbers of districts by introducing ratios in drawing the district lines. It's a simple solution that ensures a fair representative democracy for our nation. And in a nation founded on those very principles, shouldn't we work our hardest to ensure them to our citizens?

When I was around the age of 12 years old, my leading male figure was my grandfather. Sadly he committed suicide, and I lost the only person who could teach me how to be a man. As I rediscovered my love of stories and reading I discovered for the first time a full cast of fantastically qualified people. Much of my personal identity was founded on being as smart as Bruce Wayne and as noble as Superman. Yes these are all also deeply flawed characters. But who isn't? Certainly they aren't any more flawed than real people. So I picked and chose all the qualities I thought would bring me up as a good human being. These are my heroes not in just a pop culture sense. But in a literal sense as well. I wouldn't be the same person today if I didn't have them to guide me.

There are always going to be multiple types of loss. For me, my first experience with loss was when my parents got divorced when I was 7 years old. From then on I lived with my mother, sister, and brother, and we struggled to find our place without the efforts or support of my father. We spent the first few months after moving to the United States living with my grandparents. Devoid of our own home or autonomy, we relied on their support. Eventually my mother found a way to move us into a good area with a quality education, and despite her constant stress, even after developing leukemia she never stopped fighting for my siblings and I to this day. For this and many other reasons I am eternally grateful to my mother. But in the spirit of honesty, the loss of my father did not effect my life beyond being consistently worried about money. Once I began to leave my naiveté behind I began to realize how my father was not the greatest of men and currently I accept that he is permanently out of my life. However the lack of a father in my life did, once I hit puberty, lead me searching for male figures that I could aspire to be like. This responsibility ended up falling upon my grandfather. A strong willed but friendly man and ex-assembly line worker. Even when he was retired, he took every chance he could get to help a person in need. Despite his own troubles, he proudly took charge in providing me the role my father should have originally. Instilling within me the same value for human life and commitment to others that he had. As well as, through his death, the necessity for fighting for what you care for as long as possible. My grandfather committed suicide in 2013. Little did I know at the time that he had multiple cancer diagnoses, and was constantly depressed, even though he never showed it outwardly to us kids. It was a topic reserved for hushed family discussions away from childly ears. But eventually I felt the full force of that emotional bomb when he initially went missing. As a kid, I had no idea why my grandfather would suddenly go missing like that. It filled my chest with anguish and I wouldn't stop crying despite constantly looking for him for two weeks. I remember desperately looking outside my mothers back window for any sign of him even through the trauma and tears. Eventually, he was found dead in the backseat of his car after having overdosed on his medication. The loss of my grandfather put me on an express meet with depression and existential dread. It was the defining moment of my childhood. Once I returned to school, it was impossible to cheer me up. I used to be an avid reader, and then I wasn't. A good student, and then I wasn't. Eventually my depression was able to clear up through time. I picked up my old hobbies; with an incredible amount of purpose. Never again would I pick up a book for the pure intention of reading a good story. There was always a moral, that I wanted to learn. Even one as simple as cherishing your friends, a very basic lesson, was important to me. Through this teenage angst I would have an existential crisis, which I solved through my love of philosophy. Which is to this day one of my favorite topics. I fell particularly in love with Albert Camus, a French philosopher who founded the ideas of Absurdism. Which says that life is inherently absurd, it is full of pain. But despite this pain an individual needs to embrace his love of life fully through his passions. This mode of thought is what got me to get my first job at 14 at a local grocery store. In one part to help my mother with her still standing financial burden, and in another to help myself grow into an adult. Despite how much I love my grandfather. He wasn't able to continue to fight the pain that life gave him. And I never want anyone else to feel that sort of pain in their own lives. To feel that they cannot afford in one way or another to go further. Eventually I got into politics as a teenager, but I never dropped it. It is also one of my driving passions and my hopeful future career. I want to ensure, that despite all of life's hardships, people can keep living. Whether that be absentee fathers not willing to make child support payments, or a lost loved one. I want to ensure that at least in the material world, everyone has a chance to keep fighting.