The Wheel is Yours to Turn
Andrew Monroe

"No." - Rosa Parks. A simple quote, a single word, spoken by a single woman, helped spark a revolution that caught ablaze throughout an entire country and revolutionized how an entire people group is viewed and treated to this very day. This one act of defiance radically changed an entire country's perspective and allowed individuality, a new ability for the African-American population to express and live like never before. And I believe that this should remain true today, that the entirety of the American people should not have to live and be told how to live by other people, but by how they chose to live their lives themselves. Though Rosa Parks is an at-large example, this belief of individuality and "going against the system" can and should be applied to every person's life. I see so many times a student being forced to do something, be it by a parent or a teacher, and it is easy to tell that they have no interest doing that thing. I was once in a situation like this, when I used to play baseball in elementary school. I enjoyed the sport and loved being on the field, but after a few years I was starting to get burnt out on playing. Since my dad played baseball for half his life, I felt that I should continue to play to make him proud. And I did for another year but eventually I was bored, worn out and ready to quit. I told my dad this and, to my surprise, he wasn't disappointed in my decision, and he backed me up on it. My fear is that not all parents are as willing to accept their childrens' decisions as my father was. Some parents try to live through their kids and force them to do things that the parents themselves never had the opportunity to do at the kid's age, and this is a problem. Personal expression is the strongest thing that we as humans have and we cannot let that be taken from us. Take Derrick Coleman for