stranger in me

Walking Away

Isaiah Andrade

Com 101

All my life, as Isaiah Nicolas Andrade I was told by many people that I could be whatever I wanted. But also society told me being a Latnio American I can only do certain things in life like being the stereotypical lawn mower or the typical janitor. So all my life I’ve been confused with what i wanted to do on this planet and what was going to make my name. For the last six years I’ve fallen into a stereotype that I thought I had to be because of my race and how I was seen by others. Isaiah Andrade the last six years has been defined as a soccer player and that is it because i thought that was my only way out.

Although I was told my whole life I could strive to be whatever I want, I have seen people fall into what they were truly “destined” to be. I grew up in a predominantly Mexican community in Chicago called Pilsen, where you either seen people get out and make something of themselves or get stuck in gang related activity. So the only way I thought I can make it in this world was to play a sport and stay away from all that activity and not get involved. So I joined soccer and never looked back since then. I started to play in seventh grade and was honestly a natural. I would compete with kids that have been playing their whole life. I was given respect within the community and was looked at more than just Isaiah.

But then after eighth grade, my family and I moved to the suburbs of Oak Forest and I had to start a whole new chapter of my life with people I never met or knew. Going from one environment like Pilsen where it is a majority of all Mexicans to a diverse school like Tinley Park was like the story Plato’s Cave. It is kind of like when Socrates is telling the story of the men and how they are trapped and see nothing different their whole lives until one is released from the cave. I’m kind of like the man because my whole life I was strictly only used to dealing with people that were kind of like me and then my whole life switched in the matter of just a couple months. Just like the man's life as soon as he got out of the cave, he had seen their was more to life than just that he knew.

So the Isaiah everyone knows and how I portray myself is all a product of how I was raised in Pilsen because if you are from somewhere you should be very proud of it. So the outer me that people know me as is more of an asshole and go getter because that’s how you had to be to make it over there. Nobody cares for you or knows about you unless you make them so that had a lot to do with my personality and if I was liked or not by kids at my new school. A lot of kids didn’t understand me or didn’t even know anything about me at Tinley but decided not to like me because of how I carry myself. I fell into that stereotype even more at Tinley of being that “beaner, cocky, and arragont” soccer player.

So the next four years of my life, I carried myself the way I did for all of my life but it was harder because of the setting I was in at Tinley. The outer me that everyone seen was that go getter guy that didn’t let anything get to him because I wasn't going to let people judge me that haven’t even known me my life or what I was about. But the inner me was annoyed and drained already because I dealt with three years of a sport that I thought defined me as a person. From a young age i was shown that only certain things in life are your ways out. Only certain people are going to make it because of what they do. But honestly going to Tinley showed me a whole different aspect of life.

By going to Tinley Park Highschool it showed me a way of life that people had other options than just one certain aspect of life. It showed me a way of life that people don't necessarily have to fit into a category or just a stereotype. Going there also changed some of my views and morals as a person rather than when I was growing up and going to school in Pilsen. As a person i always thought things in life had to be one thing or another. I thought it was basically black or white, you did this or you didn't basically. So that was one major aspect of my life that was changed in the last four years and affected the inner me as person.

Now basically the biggest event in my life that defines me as a person is when I couldn’t play the sport I thought I was “destined” to play my senior year. This took a lot out of me and I thought I basically failed in life. The one thing I was told was my way out in life , I couldn’t do because of dumb deciosns I made the year before that. I thought this was going to define me as a person and I wasn't going to amount to much because of it. But I played one more season of travel ball and realized that this sport wasn’t going to define me as Isaiah Andrade. So after these last 6 years with soccer I am finally content with letting it go and walking away from it because I am not going to let a sport say who am.

As a person in whole , I try to stick to truly who I think I am. It is all about my morals and what my beliefs are as a man that makes me stick to me. I don’t try to act different around anyone or act fake to impress anyone. But that could just be because I do not feel if I as a person has to impress someone. This also reflects on how I was raised because I was taught not to care what others think of you because they do not know the true you.

The major difference between my two photos was the whole background my self portrait portrayed. It captured me walking away from what was once “my passion” to a whole new journey I am about to begin. It reflects on how I’m also turning my back on something I love to get further in life and once again walking away from all knew for about six years. While my other selfie just shows me for the outer me and not saying too much of who I really am.

In conclusion I don't think anyone knows the true stanger in themselves due to the fact that we are not true finished products of ourselves yet. I thought my life was strictly soccer and it came out to be I was all wrong because I am not even playing at the next level that I worked so hard to get to. But I am content in my life where I can move on from that chapter of my life and focus on something that truly matters which is my degree of study.

Works Cited

Sontag, Susan. “In Plato’s Cave.” On Photography, Dell Publishing, 1977, pp. 3-24. Composition Flipped, writing101.net/flip/wp-content/resources/documents/sontag-in-platos-cave.pdf.