Life Lesson

"No matter how unimportant you think you are, you are an influence to SOMEONE."
-PJ Moon. Only 23yr's old, and he's said the one thing that caused me to rethink my whole way of living. He was a youth leader, who meant to change our attitude towards responsibility - and it worked. Pj Moon told me that there ARE people paying attention to me. But who am I influencing that it matters? I wondered. "Your little cousins, students of lower grades, your friends, or perhaps even your brother notice changes about your attitude, your responses, and your thoughts." Pj said, "If you start cussing, soon they will see you as an excuse to start cussing themselves. If you start living right, they will see you as someone to look up to, and will try to live right as well. No matter how unimportant you think you are, you are an influence to SOMEONE."

Though his words made me a bit self-conscious of everything I do, it's helped me to do everything right. When tempted to watch an R-rated movie with friends, my conscious seems to start up like a record player, replaying Pj's words with an annoying vengeance, and lays out two options, 1) watch the movie that's filled with violence/sex/and or profanity, or 2) say no. Though it's hard to watch my friends laugh at my silliness when I choose option 2 ("it's just a movie, Anna" they say), for up until now, I've held my dignity and followed what was right. And I now realize that my diligence is starting to pay off, as my friends look at me, and ask me seriously, which PG13 movie we should watch.

I just had to choose what was right for myself, and peers around me would change their lifestyles for themselves. Seemingly, Pj knew what he was talking about.