Notes

Unpreventable Gift

As a child, I was always bullied by my peers because of my height. I was
teased for being "too short;" It somehow always got to me. From that point on,
I felt that I was different, but never knew the reason as to why. I never
understood why, until I started doing a little research myself. I came up with
many reasons; the ones that kept standing up were either prematurity or
dwarfism. I knew it was not dwarfism since my families were tall.
Prematurity is very seldom spoken about. My parents never told me; I
accidentally overheard my aunt telling my grandmother how they were all worried
about me the day I was born. At that point, I was so confused; I guess they saw
the look on my face. It was a face of astonishment and surprise. The look was
probably priceless and the confusion in my eyes was looking directly at them.
All I could think at that second was, "All this time I was bullied for my
stature and there was actually a reason for why I was like this." They were
both also shocked that I did not know; they thought my parents already told me.
I was then told how everyone was scared for me; since the doctors said there
was no chance I would survive. I had no oxygen, I was literally blue. I still
could not grasp the idea; I was still in shock.
I found out the surprising news about four summers ago, which was not so long
ago. Ironically, it was during my sophomore year of high school, which was
before that summer, one of my classmates, Megan, was talking about how she was
born premature and how she is very tall; compared to others like her. That day,
I went to back home to my mother and told her Megan's story. I kept waiting for
words to come out of her mouth. My mother was quiet like she wanted to tell me
something but just could not. It was like she lost the words she wanted to say
or maybe even forget every single word in the English language. All she said
was, "Oh okay." I sensed something wrong; her expression rapidly changed. I
could not understand what happened. I read an article on long-term effects in
adults born prematurely. The effects include short stature, low scores on
reading and math, ADHD, and much more. Research shows that they are more likely
to drop-out of school, commit crimes, and have anxiety. Luckily, I only have a
few of these, but I do not let them prevent me from living a normal life.
Now, I finally understand why my parents never wanted to tell me until I
turned 18. I believe they thought that if I knew at an earlier age, then I
would have low self-determination and esteem. I would believe that I am
incapable of succeeding since I was born that way. I always tell myself that I
was born for a reason and it is to make the world a better place to live in and
succeed in my life. Well, I am glad to say that I was born premature with
strong ambitions to continue what I am doing in order to be successful in
life.I will prove the people, who think that preemies are incapable of doing
beneficial things for the community, wrong.