Gabriella Weissbart

I would be lying if I told you that I know exactly what I want to do with my “ one wild and precious life”. I am a 17-year-old girl who has barely begun living. What I can say is that I want to live my life, not unlike the grasshopper in Mary Oliver’s poem. I want to live my life freely and hold my wild and precious life to the high standard that comes with the word ‘precious’. My life is a gift and I do not want to waste it.

The cards that I was dealt with limited what I could do as a child. I was not given the luxury of being a normal kid; I faced adversity at a younger age than most, but it only made me stronger and wiser. I spent a huge portion of my childhood helpless in hospital beds surgery after surgery. I am fortunate that the worst of it is all over. After going through these challenges I want to live my life doing something that helps people suppress the hardships they face. No one deserves to live their life in pain. After all, our lives are wild and precious and should be lived as such