In the middle of the night, he stumbles over what used to be. What is no longer there. The pavement is rough and cold beneath his feet and the sky is a gray blanket without a single hint of a star. The cars whirr past him with their bright lights and warm seats. The city below is dark as the rest of the world is asleep. The boy gets home, goes up the stairs, and locks himself in his room. The warmth of the house makes his cold hands sting. Panic. Afraid. He looks into the mirror, trying to find something that stays, one constant thing, but there is nothing. He inhaled deeply through his tears and closed his eyes for the last time. “Even in the midst of winter I found within me an invincible summer.” It burned through the darkness, cauterizing his closed eyes, burned through his soul. The words were like a song he’d heard for the first time and the words were beating in his head. It was safe. It was summer. And he was brave.

I believe that everyone has things to go through or get past , whether it’s a death or a breakup. The end of something good, or the beginning of something terrible. And I know that some people have it worse than others, and some people have a harder time finding it or holding on to it , but it’s there. It’s what gets you up every morning. That thing that makes you keep going, never give up. It could be a person, or it could be something as simple as hope. I believe that people shouldn’t give up on finding it, and I don’t think people should make life worse for anybody else. I believe it’s definitely easier to be cruel to others or just give up, but it makes you a better person to keep going and learn to love. Because within each of us is an invincible summer.

First, nobody’s life is perfect, despite what it may seem. Everyone has horrible things to go through or get past, and some people have it worse than others. Maybe that girl who is angry all the time gets yelled at by her parents, or that guy who seems quiet and sad has a grandpa who died a while ago. But the part that matters is how you go through something, not what you go through. I know it would be easier to just shut yourself down and ignore everyone, but that’s just being alive. That isn’t living. Within everyone is an invincible summer, they just have to be brave enough to go and get it.

Next, I believe that something bad happens sometimes so we can find something good. And something good ends so we can find something better. (Someone famous said that. I don’t remember who it was, but I wish it had been me). Sometimes that thing is something important, like a friend, or something simple, like a little girl drops her vanilla ice cream, but then her mom goes and gets her something better, like chocolate. It’s a cycle.

Last, my strongest belief is in other people. I believe that other people can lead you to your invincible summer and make you happy beyond comprehension. Or, they can tear you down and destroy you before wiping you off their feet and throwing you away. But more than that, I believe in helping other people. I believe in becoming their invincible summer, or at least leading them to it, so they can be happy and free. It’s so much easier to bring them down, but it makes you better than you were yesterday to help them, or at least try to.
In conclusion, I believe in being brave even when your world comes crashing down, and more than anything, I believe in being happy and helping other people open their eyes so they can be happy and free in the sun. I believe that a life of being happy and helping people is a life of grace. A life where you love and be loved. Everyone has that life waiting for them. They just have to have the bravery to go through the cold and the hurt to find it.

Even in the midst of winter
I found within me
An invincible summer