This is probably going to be my college essay. Please, PLEASE, tear it up completely and rip it to shreds. I need it to be as good as it can be, and I trust you guys to have input on things I would never be able to find. Also, do you think the topic is good enough for a college essay? I think it might be...but I really, REALLY need to get in to school, and I'm worried my essay will spell my doom and I won't be accepted. :/
The giant encyclopedia set and I stood at an impasse, the books daring me to open just one volume. I tried to resist by reminding myself of their substantial weight and potentially boring subjects. But no matter how well I avoided lifting one from their perch on the bookcase, I couldn’t stop wondering what the pages held.
One rainy day, I found myself running my tiny hand along the spines, curiosity starting to get the better of me. The faux-leather texture was almost captivating, giving me mental images of professors with white hair, reclining in ratty plaid chairs, doing what I imagined to be professor-esque things, like reading encyclopedia volumes. In that moment, I made my decision. I had to figure out what these books were hiding. I hefted one off the shelf. It was labeled with an "L," which I picked because of my own first initial. I dragged the book to the couch, got myself comfortable, and cracked it open.
I was met with the unique, scholarly scent of the pages, warm and inviting to me. I flipped through the book, my eight-year-old eyes scanning the topic names until I found one that piqued my interest. “Left-handedness,” it read. I smiled, looking at my own left hand, which had become smeared with graphite from writing a short story earlier.
I read the article, amazed at how much knowledge was stored in one place. I was enthralled. My eyes whipped across the lines, my mind devouring the information as if it had been starving for the past eight years. I had to stop occasionally to find my dictionary so I could know what “spatial ability” and “ambidexterity” meant. I found them, and kept reading, utterly transfixed by what I was reading.
My mom came into the living room to tell me that supper was ready, and found me perusing the article, muttering some of the more interesting parts aloud so I could remember them later. She was taken aback; the volumes were intended for the college-educated adult audience, but there I was, her daughter who was about to enter fourth grade, reading. “Honey, what are you doing?” she asked.
“Reading. Did you know that “sinister” is a Latin root word, and it means 'left?’” I asked, setting the book down and hopping from my perch on the couch.
“Yes. Are you okay with reading those books, dear? They have some pretty difficult words in there.”
“It’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it,” I explained while walking to the dining room, filled with excitement at my newfound knowledge.
After that day, I made it a regular habit to read an article or so a day. And after a week or two, I didn’t need to have my dictionary around anymore. Initially, I read only articles that applied to me, such as the one about the state where I spent my childhood, Maine, or my favorite foreign country, which was then England. As I grew older, I began to read other articles, the scientific and historic ones becoming my favorites.
To this day, I’m a curious person, seeking to always acquire more knowledge about the world around me. I often become distracted in daily life, because I’ll find an article on nuclear fusion or feudalism, and forget a little about my assignments. I’m glad to have this curiosity about the world around me, as I’m always learning, and I’m never bored.
