Empathy is hardest to express than sympathy. To empathize with someone, it’s important that the expression has to stem from the fact that when it comes down to it, you have no idea how that person truly feels. Everyone has their own way of going about their lives and, as such, has their own way of dealing with obstacles in it. I learned a long time ago that I was unable to truly understand why some of my friends reacted the way they did when they put the effort into something and failed. To console them, all I could do was offer my condolences based on my own experience. From my experience, I could never understand what it’s like to have to work up the nerve and be honest with who I am to others. I could never understand what’s it like to come out as gay in a world where people are still ostracized for it. The best I can do is offer my support and my sincere hope that whatever someone is going through, they will.

It’s not easy for me to stay what novel is my favorite. Novels such as S.E Hinton’s The Outsiders, or Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities left profound impacts on my life. While I sometimes tear through books and not even remember months later what they were about, I find that the most impactful ones I read only once and leave them unopened afterwards because I was left satisfied knowing that I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. The novel on my mind at the moment: The Catcher in the Rye. My favorite book right now has to be J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. As someone who spent close to half of their time in high school in quarantine due to Covid-19, I empathized with the sense of loneliness and angst exhibited by Holden Caulfield, the novel’s protagonist. Holden struggles to find his niche in a world he feels is filled by those who sacrifice their individuality in order to fit in, despite numerous examples that he does the same. Throughout his experiences in New York City, Holden encounters many people who just want to get by in life and while they might not have become what they wanted, they still found a place to fit into the world. After I graduated high school, I was quickly thrust into a world I didn’t understand and I had to just as quickly decide what I was going to do in it. As someone who still hasn’t found their niche, I found that college was the perfect place to experiment and hopefully get myself closer to understanding what I want to be.

Every day, I pass hundreds of people on my way to school and on campus itself, but none of us know who the other is, nor do we care. The legacy I want to leave behind falls onto those who know me, I don’t need the recognition of others to determine my worth in the world. The people I know and love are my world. To have the ability to improve their lives and impart some kind of wisdom that makes them look back and remember that I was able to make that impact for them is enough for me. For instance, my father is an example of someone who didn’t need the love of the masses to make an impact in the world. He taught me that “nobody will care for [me] like family will, so take care of them first”. As long as someone can take whatever knowledge I impart on them and use it to make their lives better, I have cemented my legacy.