As a teenager in high school, I am like a fish looking out of a newly established aquarium, eagerly exploring my new surroundings and anxious for life to come at me. I’m happy with my surroundings in the tank. Everything is interesting and vibrant with color including myself. I have a mix of fiery red and a glimmer of turquoise blue. I like to think that these two colors show my compassion and tranquility. My body is long with a short but very adequate caudal fin that gives me the will power to keep moving forward in life. My eyes sparkle with a yellowish hue which is unique to the rest of my coloration. My colors are meant to show that I am who I am and no one can diminish me.

The amazon Sword plant shimmers in the light with its tall broad leaves. I swim past the tallest leaf, brushing it with my side, it tickles. The small umbrella plant is vigorously growing the African Dwarf frog always settles underneath its leaves. However, the focal point of my new home is a piece of drift wood that is hollowed out on the inside. Anxiously I swim towards an opening on the far side of the log. It is very dark on the inside where the light cannot penetrate. I decide to take a chance and quickly swim through the log. I make it! Once again I come to another opening this time underneath the log. Entering slowly I explore and feel with my pectoral fins the roughness of the driftwood. Am I becoming complacent with my surroundings? Swimming over the undulating sand was fun at first but now it does not even excite me. The outside surroundings are what really get me going nowadays.

I love to look outside my rectangular environment past the glass to the unknown world. The people make every single move have its own nuance. What is it like to have such freedom to wander wherever one wants to go? I have never known with such limited freedom I am stuck in this tank. I watch as the Banzai plant on the mantel starts to brown. I realize even plants outside of water need nutrients and care to grow like the plants in my tank. It’s time for my mind to be fed like the nutrients that feed all of the life around me. I’m searching for that knowledge.