Power of a line
Title
Power of a line
Creator
Russell Suarez
Date
10/03/2022
Text
Significant life altering moments happen to all individuals; shaping us into who we are today in life. Not all these moments are fully realized by the individual at the time it occurs. Maybe you miss the meaning because you are blinded by childish values. This happened to be the case for my own personal life, getting a fulfilling life lesson taught to me and not comprehending the magnitude of the words just spoken regardless of the length. Lessons can be learned, we just need to listen.
My story begins in Miami Florida, during the regular season of the National Football League. My sister, my brother and I went to see the dolphins play in Hard Rock stadium. I have always been an avid lover of football and sports in general, but football spoke to me more. This being the case, my excitement for being able to attend this game was similar to a child on Christmas morning. At this time the Dolphins were not a very good team, struggling vs many opponents. But still the thrill to see the game I loved was something I looked forward to. We arrive to the stadium with a great view of the whole field. I came fully clothed in Dolphin’s attire, from the orange socks to the dolphin’s shirt to the foam finger reading number one fan, to a foam hat with a dolphin fin on it. Excitement filled the air of that stadium. Towards the end of the fourth quarter my emotional connection to the game was on display after I realized we were about to lose. In frustration I started slowly but surely taking off all the gear that labeled me as a fan, and then sat in disappointment and anger towards my team for losing this game. Now I cannot tell you the score of this game, the year, the record of the dolphins, or even the opponent that we played against. But, with full certainty I can remember the words my sister spoke to me following my childish actions of stripping my self of all what I believed at this time, labeled me a loser. She said “are you going to give up on your team when they lose one game? Is that how you’ll walk through life?” At this time my very simple answer to this existential question was a simple “yup” and never thought anything of it until 4 years later, on October 17th. Now being as young as I was, no more then ten years old; four years later would have placed me at fourteen, or in other words entering high school. This was the moment I found my self in a similar position. I entered football season and for the first time in my life I felt inadequate; unable to do right regardless of what I tried. No amount of workouts got me strong enough, no amount of film study got me good enough. I was on the brink of quitting what I had loved for many years. To add insult to injury, I had recently torn three ligaments in my ankle that would plague me for my entire playing career. These situations caused me to enter a dark side of my self telling my self constantly that I was inadequate and just when I was about to quit I finally understood what my sister meant by those words all those years ago. When life becomes difficult, when it does not care about your emotions or your ideologies; how will you respond? Will you give up? Will you crumble under the pressure of life? Will you allow your life’s road to end and feel complacent to the image you have left; or will you continue fighting and believing in what makes you, quite frankly, you. Will you continue to pave your life’s road and fight for your values and your beliefs?
As a ten-year-old, these thoughts did not surface, but as aforementioned, on October 17th the stress of my mentality at this time got to me. My mother, the strongest person I know, has raised and worked to give her five children the best lives they could have, providing financially and emotionally. School, football, and even my health happened to be an after thought at this time, until October 17th where I stood in the middle of the road one night for hours, no cars disturbing my thought, just me and myself. Debating if my hard work would go unseen. Do I need to be seen by the world to have self value? Will I fight for a scholarship to ease my mother’s life, will I continue forgoing school and not put my full self into my studies or really anything I decided to do at this point? I decided that night that I would live my life to give any part of myself to the woman who put me in the shoes, metaphorically and physically, I am in today. This all because I remembered the words my sister told me that day of the football game. One small sentence that would later trigger a call to action to better my life in all ways I knew how. To this day I have this quote in my closet printed and laminated. Also, to this this day, my sister has not become aware of this specific impact she had on my life. I do not know exactly why I have found it hard to speak of this matter to her. Maybe its because its my sibling? I tend to struggle to show emotions especially in front of family; always must appear strong for family. This mindset and place of weakness that she in essence pulled me out of will always be credited to her even if she never finds out.
Think of life bigger than your self. Don’t be closed minded how I was during this period of my life, life is full of trial and error, figure out yourself and never stop believing, even when you think you’ve had enough just keep pushing forward. When you question any deity you pray to and ask them why they have given you such hardships in life. Just remember this is how you grow as an individual and become the person you were destined to become. One simple sentence from a loved one changed my mind set even if I was oblivious to the true meaning at first. Speak to people, you never know the impact you will have on their lives with just a simple conversation.
My story begins in Miami Florida, during the regular season of the National Football League. My sister, my brother and I went to see the dolphins play in Hard Rock stadium. I have always been an avid lover of football and sports in general, but football spoke to me more. This being the case, my excitement for being able to attend this game was similar to a child on Christmas morning. At this time the Dolphins were not a very good team, struggling vs many opponents. But still the thrill to see the game I loved was something I looked forward to. We arrive to the stadium with a great view of the whole field. I came fully clothed in Dolphin’s attire, from the orange socks to the dolphin’s shirt to the foam finger reading number one fan, to a foam hat with a dolphin fin on it. Excitement filled the air of that stadium. Towards the end of the fourth quarter my emotional connection to the game was on display after I realized we were about to lose. In frustration I started slowly but surely taking off all the gear that labeled me as a fan, and then sat in disappointment and anger towards my team for losing this game. Now I cannot tell you the score of this game, the year, the record of the dolphins, or even the opponent that we played against. But, with full certainty I can remember the words my sister spoke to me following my childish actions of stripping my self of all what I believed at this time, labeled me a loser. She said “are you going to give up on your team when they lose one game? Is that how you’ll walk through life?” At this time my very simple answer to this existential question was a simple “yup” and never thought anything of it until 4 years later, on October 17th. Now being as young as I was, no more then ten years old; four years later would have placed me at fourteen, or in other words entering high school. This was the moment I found my self in a similar position. I entered football season and for the first time in my life I felt inadequate; unable to do right regardless of what I tried. No amount of workouts got me strong enough, no amount of film study got me good enough. I was on the brink of quitting what I had loved for many years. To add insult to injury, I had recently torn three ligaments in my ankle that would plague me for my entire playing career. These situations caused me to enter a dark side of my self telling my self constantly that I was inadequate and just when I was about to quit I finally understood what my sister meant by those words all those years ago. When life becomes difficult, when it does not care about your emotions or your ideologies; how will you respond? Will you give up? Will you crumble under the pressure of life? Will you allow your life’s road to end and feel complacent to the image you have left; or will you continue fighting and believing in what makes you, quite frankly, you. Will you continue to pave your life’s road and fight for your values and your beliefs?
As a ten-year-old, these thoughts did not surface, but as aforementioned, on October 17th the stress of my mentality at this time got to me. My mother, the strongest person I know, has raised and worked to give her five children the best lives they could have, providing financially and emotionally. School, football, and even my health happened to be an after thought at this time, until October 17th where I stood in the middle of the road one night for hours, no cars disturbing my thought, just me and myself. Debating if my hard work would go unseen. Do I need to be seen by the world to have self value? Will I fight for a scholarship to ease my mother’s life, will I continue forgoing school and not put my full self into my studies or really anything I decided to do at this point? I decided that night that I would live my life to give any part of myself to the woman who put me in the shoes, metaphorically and physically, I am in today. This all because I remembered the words my sister told me that day of the football game. One small sentence that would later trigger a call to action to better my life in all ways I knew how. To this day I have this quote in my closet printed and laminated. Also, to this this day, my sister has not become aware of this specific impact she had on my life. I do not know exactly why I have found it hard to speak of this matter to her. Maybe its because its my sibling? I tend to struggle to show emotions especially in front of family; always must appear strong for family. This mindset and place of weakness that she in essence pulled me out of will always be credited to her even if she never finds out.
Think of life bigger than your self. Don’t be closed minded how I was during this period of my life, life is full of trial and error, figure out yourself and never stop believing, even when you think you’ve had enough just keep pushing forward. When you question any deity you pray to and ask them why they have given you such hardships in life. Just remember this is how you grow as an individual and become the person you were destined to become. One simple sentence from a loved one changed my mind set even if I was oblivious to the true meaning at first. Speak to people, you never know the impact you will have on their lives with just a simple conversation.
Collection
Citation
Russell Suarez, “Power of a line ,” Everything Speaks To Me , accessed September 18, 2026, https://everythingspeakstome.com/items/show/176.