Have Faith in Yourself

Morgan Brandl, second place

Tell your body that it is strong, Tell your mind that it is strong, and have unbounded faith and hope in yourself.

— Swami Vivekananda Life is not fair at times. I have had some ups and downs in my life. My faith and hope have gotten me through the tragedies that I have had.

Before I came to Medford I lived with my mom and dad in Thorp. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a dark stormy night. My mom and I were in the living room. My dad was gone truck driving. I was on the floor watching TV. My mom was sitting in my dad’s chair by the computer. I heard something coming from my mom’s direction. I looked over at my mom and my heart skipped a beat. She looked like she was having a seizure. I ran over to her and yelled, “mom!!!” She didn’t respond. I didn’t know what I was doing until I was doing it. I ran and put on my rain gear and grabbed my dad’s hunting light. I ran to my neighbor Dan’s house. The moment I came into his driveway I yelled, “Help!!!” at the top of my voice. By the time I reached the door Dan opened it. I told him what happened. He ran with me to my house where he started CPR on her and called 911. Becky, Dan’s adult daughter, saw the ambulance in the driveway so she took me to her house for the night. I didn’t get much sleep that night. The next day my dad came to pick me up. When we got home I asked dad, “Can we go see mom now?” My dad got on one knee and said, “I’m sorry but Mom didn’t make it. She didn’t even make it to the hospital.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! I started to cry and my dad wrapped me in his arms like he was trying to protect me from what happened.

Three years later my next tragedy happened. It was November and deer hunting season. My dad told me the night before that he was going hunting the next morning. I knew he was going to be gone at 5 a.m. until 11 p.m. so I didn’t think anything of it when he was gone all day. A cop came later that night to tell me that my dad was not coming home that he died from a heart attack while hunting. Dan was the one who found him. He said that he heard a gunshot coming from where my dad was. He texted him and asked him if he got the deer. When he did not respond, Dan went to look for him. When he got to the tree stand he saw my dad laying on the ground. One ironic thing was under my dad was a Reese’s peanut butter cup wrapper. Dan told dad that if you eat a Reese’s peanut butter cup and drop the wrapper, that a deer would come. Obviously he saw a deer. My dad was 54 years old. My mom died when I was nine and my dad died when I was 12. After my dad died I came to Medford to live with my brother and his wife. I started school in the middle of seventh grade at MAMS. There were times I wanted to give up. I felt like life was not fair to me, losing both of my parents. I had to start over making new friends, going to a different school, and getting adjusted to new people raising me. What I learned from this, is that you need faith and hope in life. Even though I loved my parents deeply, I knew I had to get through this and face my new challenges. I try to stay positive and look on the bright side of things. How this can guide me is that I want to be a vet assistant, firefighter, or an EMT when I get done with school. I like to help others. You need a lot of faith and hope in these jobs. Right now I try to help my friends when they have problems. I use my faith and hope to guide them. I always try to make them happy. Life is not fair at times, but just remember… have Faith and Hope and you’ll be fine.