Let's take a trip through time. Take yourself back to the year 2001 and envision yourself as a seven year old. You've just started first grade and the teacher is trying to learn more about you. By asking questions about your dreams, do you want to be a doctor? A lawyer? A teacher? Would you have answered "yes" to any questions? I did not nor did I ever wish to answer those questions. Instead, my only dream was to be a hero. I did not care who I would save or how I would manage to do so, I just wanted to say that I was a hero to someone.

Time leads to maturity. Our dreams could have been set in stone one year only for that stone to be shattered the next. Moving on we find a new stone to carve our new dream into. Eventually surrounding us is an endless quarry of lost dreams. Soon, I'm surrounded by a small quarry of my lost hopes, dreams, and thoughts. Out of boredom and nostalgia, I sift through the piles of debris to come across something I once cherished. Standing out from the rest of the stones is one of an odd color: a large polished rock with the inscription, "When I grow up and everyone is off being teachers, or lawyers, or business owners...I'm going to be a hero. Not a police officer, not a firefighter, not a doctor, but a hero." In that moment tears fill my eyes as I relive carving those words. I quietly speak to myself, "I need to resurrect this and keep it with me forever...I can't believe I almost lost myself to the tests, projects, and grades from school. My dream was almost lost forever because I was told to grow up." I dust off my rock, it shines in the sunlight.

I tried to keep that promise I made to myself. One night sitting in a movie theater watching a clichéd superhero action packed adventure, I heard the soundtrack and not only was the music itself beautiful but the lyrics spoke to me. (My mind began to race and go through unimaginable situations in which I could save someone dear to me.) The lyrics began to embrace me like my mother comforting me after a nightmare. "When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears. When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears. And I held your hand through all of these years-" (Lee, Amy. "My Immortal." Evanescence. MP3.) A spark ignited within me. Whether it was rushing into a burning building and emerging with survivors or racing to the end of the Earth and back, I wanted to brandish a cape and save someone. Exiting the theater that night I walked proudly in front of my parents with no fear of the dark abyss before us. I had no fear, only dreams of stopping any danger that may lurk in the night.

It is now 2011 and I'm currently seventeen years old. I'm sitting here reflecting on my heroic acts from this past year. I helped my Grandmother on her difficult road to recovery from open heart surgery, rescued a puppy from a shelter, talked someone out of a bad place in his/her mind, and made my parents proud. I may not fit the mold of a comic book superhero but I believe my dream has been accomplished so far. In the future I hope to still keep that dream alive, nothing will destroy it.