Important Person

Maya.

My relationship scares people; to be honest it scares me. Not many people can understand how after six short months someone could be so sure of the person they want to spend the rest of their life with. I’m going to do my best to explain why. Maya is amazing in so many ways. She’s beautiful, intelligent, and when she smiles the world goes in slow motion. But most importantly Maya stands for what she believes and never backs down.

When I think of Maya I think about the times I would pass her in the hallways before we met in high school. She had a way of drawing my attention without even knowing me. In a mob of tired, gray, students, Maya was the one who caught my eye; she was glowing. The students at our high school were particularly sad and grey due to a culture of bullying, rape, and cyber-harassment. As a person who had no enemies and pretty much kept to my small circle of friends at the time, I wasn’t aware of the fact that many of the faces that passed by me throughout the day where crying for help. Spending time with Maya made me realize I had been living selfishly for the past 3 years. For me high school was easy, and I didn’t have any trouble with bullying, so I kept my head down and chose not to notice the terrible harassment that was going on under my nose. Maya on the other hand, took every opportunity to stand up for kids who couldn’t stand up for themselves. And in return she was punished. She was punished by mean boys who would message her on social media telling her to kill herself. She was punished by girls who would spread rumors about her and call her names like “slut” and “whore." She was punished by administration who practically ignored bullying to help preserve their crystal clean public image. It broke my heart to see the way Maya was treated in that school. She put up with six hours a day of being abused for as long as she could but finally this September had to leave the public-school system and finish her junior and senior year from home. While its terrible that she can no longer attend school with all her friends, I’m proud of Maya. She is one of the most brave and caring people I know, and she can look back on her brief time in public school and remember all the kids that she has touched.

The assignment asks that we write a paper about someone who is important to us and then give an example of something that this person has done that shows that trait. It didn’t take me long to decide who I was going to write about. However, I took some time to think about what event I was going to use to express why I am in love with Maya. I began to reflect on all the good and bad times in our relationship over the past 6th months. I determined that everything that makes Maya so amazing couldn’t be summed up into a single essay. I could have written about so much more. I could have written about the way her nose scrunches when I touch it. I could have written about the fact that she makes me a better person in every way. I could have written about her laugh, or her smile, or I could have written about the fact that since the day I met her she has never left my mind. In fact, I don’t believe I will ever stop thinking about her. Not just because she’s impressionable, but because everyday I can look down at my forearm where her artwork sits, permanently reminding me of the love we share. Some people may say I’m crazy. Maybe I am, but I’m the best type of crazy; I’m infatuated.