Positivity is Everything

These past couple of months, weeks, and especially days have been hectic and stressful for all of us. As a high school student, having school closed, a place where I can express myself and be myself, has hit me and many others hard. Not being able to see my friends and not being able to do my school hobbies is hard. The only thing that has kept most of us going is knowing that we are helping delay a deadly virus from the rest of the state.

I may not know everything, I may not understand the way money works or the way society is, but I do understand friends and family. At the start of this outbreak one of my friends grandparents were stuck in China and not allowed to leave. I cannot imagine the anxiety that must cause. Even thinking of my family being effected by this is heart breaking, and to know one of the best people I know as dealing with this, tore me to shreds.

What helped him though, was being positive. Everyday he would come to school and he would tell me joke, or give me a high five, and everyday he would tell me "Let's make tomorrow better than today."

His smile has imprinted a small facet of hope in me during this international crisis. Even in the worst of storms, he still found the will to dance in the rain. Everyday, for now months, he has still found a reason to smile when he got up.

That's why I'm reaching out to all of you. Starting Wednesday, March 18th, I challenge each and everyone of you to post a positive message, article, or meme on every social media platform you have for the remainder of this quarantine time. Everyday, I challenge you to be positive because a smile can change someone's day, someone's year, and someone's life. To remind you, we have twelve thousand students, ages four to eighteen, just like me, that miss school and being with their friends. We miss our teachers, our administrators, and our school staff. We have people like my friend who may just be trying to find a reason to make it to tomorrow.

You may think "this is so small it won't make a difference" or "one less person won't matter", but everyone matters in this. We can all make a difference and make the world a little happier than the day before this one. Said beautiful by Howard Zinn; "Small acts, multiplied by millions of people, can change the world." And with that I would like to ask you again to attempt my challenge. Try posting something positive everyday, with #positivity_is_everything attached. Now to leave you with the words of my friend; "Let's make tomorrow better than today."