Still Here, Not Going Anywhere

Perrine Aronson

Where am I?

I am on the edge of my conscience. I’m at the point where a decision is inevitable; I have to choose whether I’ll be the person I want to be, or the person people want me to be. I have to make the first step that’ll lead me somewhere. I have to break through my fears, and decide what to do with myself. I believed for too long that I could just hide behind a wall, and avoid every problem that way. I was wrong.     

I am facing reality, looking at the world in front of me. I see what it has to offer, what it can become. And I am here to discover all of it. I have to see more of this country, of its people, and its culture.

I am at the end of my teens. I’m becoming an adult. I have to make choices, decide things, and stop counting on mommy and daddy. I have to become myself. I have to be proud of what I’ve done until now. I have to understand my mistakes, and make the best of them. I should also decide if it’s worth going on the path of my present  journey, or if I’d rather start something completely different, something that’ll lead me in a totally different place, with totally different people. But I have time, plenty of time. I’m still here, and I’m not going anywhere.

I’m at the beginning of a long hike,

I close my eyes to wake up to a life,
Where skies are colored any way I like,
And endless possibilities run rife.
I am right here.
I am in Vietnam.