Generational wealth is the mass accumulation of wealth by first-generation parents or grandparents who grew their wealth enough so that their children and grandchildren were enabled with the opportunity to experience life without going through the same hardships their predecessors endured. The concept of generational wealth in my family is somewhat non-existent. "Somewhat" because my family understands that money is a necessity for supporting each other and for life, but when it comes to themselves, my parents are very frugal. On the other hand, they would drop all the money in the world just to make their daughter smile. I love my parents, and I am grateful for their continuous presence in my life. However, it frustrates me that they so callously spend their money and have not once thought about building generational wealth, especially as immigrants. This has motivated me to take things into my own hands. While I may struggle to build wealth, I want my parents and sisters to be able to live comfortably, without strife in their futures. There has never been an age limit to being passionate about building wealth. My case here is that I have been researching and thinking about building businesses, investing, working jobs, etc. to build my wealth initially for the past three years. Many factors have stopped me so far such as age and time. But these have always felt like excuses. This year, I turned sixteen. A sense of disappointment always washes over me every birthday. Most commonly, people wish to improve themselves every year of their life. Yet, my life has always felt stagnant regardless of how much work I put into myself. I realized what my caveats were: I was so focused on myself for so many years, I never stopped to think about the important people around me. When I opened my eyes, I understood more than ever how important building wealth is, not for myself, but for the people I care about the most: my sisters. This taught me to imbibe in myself how to conduct my life in a reflective approach that would allow me to not only grow my wealth but most importantly my mindset. In today's society, the mind is the most essential quality sought out in a human being. Even so, people never pay attention to growing their mindset, but only blindly follow the traditional path. Growing generational wealth is no simple feat; it requires a mind of sheer resilience to pave the path. I know I will pave my path by continuing to invest in stocks, and when I am older, I aspire to dabble in the real estate market as well. The generational wealth that I grow will not simply become money, but passing down knowledge about financial independence and security.

Growing up in an extremely diverse community may have misled me to understand that the world would be just as welcoming to all races, religions, and sexualities. However, reality hit me very painfully when I was given some exposure to the real world through various social media platforms. As Elizabeth Cady Stanton expressed, the past has always been a struggle to achieve quality and always will be. As citizens of the world, not just bound by one zip code, we must to fight, and if not fight, the support equality. I was recently able to experience for the first time the feeling of making an impact on the world. At the beginning of the school year, I joined my high school's "Amnesty International" club. I had not the slightest idea what Amnesty International was, yet it compelled me to join. As I attended meeting after meeting, I was shocked at the amount of injustice and inequality in the world. I had the privilege of participating in the "Write 4 Rights", one of the biggest events of the club. During "Write 4 Rights", the objective was to write ten letters for ten different people who are all unjustly being taken action against by different governments. The more letters that were written and sent to each country where each person was held, the greater the probability of them being set free. One letter specifically caught my attention: a woman in Mexico who was just peacefully protesting for women's rights and equality, was shot by a policeman and charged for protesting. Writing the letter for her and the other nine people in similar situations made me open my eyes to the injustice. Although what I did was very small, I hope that it will have a mighty impact, changing the face of equality.

"No rain, no flowers". This seemingly simplistic sentence may seem out of context to everyday life, however, it has dictated much of my life. How does a sentence only composed with four words dictate a person's life? Even though it may seem basic, it holds truth in every word. What this quote means literally is that without rain, there can be no flowers. Figuratively, it connotes to "without hard work, you will not see the fruit of your passions". Someone once told me, "If you want something, you have to work for it". Comparatively, without working for something or putting in unbiased effort in everything you wish to accomplish, you will fail to see the flowers, or your efforts pay off. Another way this sentence can be interpreted is that there are always going to be bad days or bad things happening. As a result, it is important to keep in mind that if there are bad days, there will always be good ones as well. There always two sides to a coin, one only has to learn to not depend on fate, but just let things flow with time. I would share this sentence with the world because of how multi-dimensional it is. It can be deciphered in many ways, and comprehended in just as many. The most beautiful aspect of it is that no matter how someone finds a way to connect to it, the message will always stand as clear-cut as the sentence itself: There are always tough times and hard work to accompany you through them, but the rain will stop, and one day, the flowers of your efforts will bloom.

Memories and experiences are fragile things. They can either make or break a person. One can blame all their life's unfortune on a single bad experience. On the other hand, some people will be stamped by good memories that in return, dictate their every decision. Very few, however, will be able to pocket the bad memories and grow and move forward. One of the most significant of experiences that have shaped a part of who I am today is my thirteenth birthday celebration. The day was like any other, yet it wasn't. The day progressed quickly, as if it had been anticipating my party itself. My friends poured in quickly, coming earlier than I was ready for. I think maybe that was my first blunder. Nevertheless, the party transitioned leading up to the highly-awaited cake my mother had baked. The second blunder, the star of the show, might have ruined black forest cakes for me for life, if not for the fact that I enjoy them too much. As I leaned in to make a wish, "Splat!" The sound was a shock, but not surprising. However, for some reason, all I could see was the ruined cake and not the laughter and smiles of the people around me. My friends who had promised to stay, were now all gone. The cake was ruined. My hair was sticky with the disappointment of a sticky birthday. Now, all of these may make me seem fussy and so insignificant compared to the rest of the world, yet it still effected me to the point I still think about it till this date. Ultimately, the unrealistic expectations for my party had not been achieved, leading me to realize that expectations do not always get fulfilled, and you are better off without them.