Dying Stars

Life has taught me that humans are dying stars. We spend all of our lives growing bigger and bigger, some more than others, but we grow nonetheless, some shine more than others and some make a bigger impact than others but they are all stars, dying stars. You see, the star keeps consuming its own energy in order to shine and serve as a beacon of light and life for those that cannot shine, just to blow up in the end and make a huge spectacle out of it. Some stars shine without emitting any heat, and some shine harder once they have died. Humans are exactly that, dying stars. My story is a perfect example of this metaphor.

My name is Jose, I was born on a small island at the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico called Cuba. There is no chance to dream there, my mm always said that the limit to one's dreams is the balcony from the floor above yours, there is no chance for stars to shine there, truly a shame, because there are many stars where I come from, but that's a story for another time. My parents decided that we had to get out, and worked as much as they could to make the dream possible. After several years it was made possible, and so we went to Canada. As a 13-year-old, I understood one thing, it was us against the world, I was out of a comfort zone I had lived on my whole life, and there was no going back, my real fight was just about to start. Being a young kid, moving to a different school was one of my worst fears, well, adding to that it was a different culture, language, different people, and whole new programs. I was shitting myself, but my mom didn't raise no punk, so I blocked out all of that and just went on without thinking too much about it. I was ready to get all the weird looks, see people gossip about me, and get them walking up to me to talk shit I wouldn't even understand. To my surprise, it was nothing like it, I found a couple of my Latino brothers there, many friendly faces, some of whom would later become my best friends. One of them, his name was Alex, stood up every class and introduced me to the teachers, and I had never experienced something like this ever before, a stranger was helping me out without me showing that I needed help. As time passed I started to open up more to these people and came to realize that they had never met someone like me, I had to show them that I was someone they could trust, but also that I was someone they could follow. Over the summer I transformed, I was completely different, I was more extroverted, more impulsive, more willing to start conversations, and so on.

Elementary passed, and we moved on to a new stage of our lives, we grew and shined more, however, this was the first stage to truly test us, The beginning of high school was a breeze, and without realizing so many stars were already dying out, a lot of dreams crushed. Choosing between responsibilities or themselves, going through heartbreaks and falling in love again, starting projects, and changing their minds. Grade 12 served as a reflection time to everyone, personally, I fell madly in love, then thanks to the pandemic, my heart was broken, I moved places and had to choose my university. I went through a lot in a very short time, personally, but it wasn't the worst. Unfortunately, for humans to grow, there needs to be struggling, a struggle that allows us to change and grow into stronger people, or a struggle that destroys us. Being born in a country such as Cuba however, I was born a survivor, for 13 years straight I was living under constant stress, so high school was like my anime training arc, it was a struggle truly, but I learned a lot, and I adopted many life philosophies that have given me different perspectives and different point of views on the world. It showed me what was truly important and that is ourselves. Listen to me reader, a star cannot shine if it focuses on making other planets shine brighter, they will never shine, instead, a star must focus on itself to shine as bright as it possibly can, to make its existence as magical and splendid as possible. That was high school's biggest lesson, if we do not work properly, then how can the product of our work be the best we can do. By simply being itself, a star brings life to other planets, so be yourself, and sooner or later as you grow, you will also be the light and inspiration for others even greater that will come after you.

Once a teacher asked, who did we think was someone who gained more fame after they died than when they were alive. The top answer was Stan Lee. Since then I have noticed how it happened with many great figures, Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant, Karl Marx, Bill Withers, and so on. They were from different times, different fields in life, however, once they passed away, way more paid attention to their lives and who they were. Stars that shined brighter after they exploded. Sometimes we catch the light of a long-dead star that reached us here on earth only decades afterward. From here all those stars look the same up in the sky, just another light somewhere in space, maybe lonely, maybe accompanied, we wouldn't know, all we know is that it has died. Many will shine a lot, while others will allow planets to flourish and grow. So focus on yourself, do not let someone else or the problems of the world around you shine as much as you want, a star is special even if there are millions of them.