January 12, 2010 began like any other day. I was watching TV with my siblings when the bed started to shake and dishes began falling from our shelves. My siblings, aged 10 and 7 began to cry as the ground moved. Soon, the whole house was swaying side to side. We all ran outside and we could hear screams everywhere. We ran past debris from our neighbors' homes. The effects of the earthquake that occurred was a sensation that I have never been able to properly describe. I felt like I was running faster than I ever have in my life, but when I looked around me, I saw things moving in slow motion.

We could not contact our parents, and none of our neighbors knew where they were. We waited for them on the street outside of our house. Hours went by, and as it became dark, my father returned. A few hours later, my mom followed. My dad had to abandon his car on the side of the road and walk home because the streets were blocked with rubble and dead bodies. My mom's job site was also destroyed, and a wall had fallen on her car. She walked barefooted all the way to the house wondering if we were okay . She has always said that was the scariest time of her life. Still, in the end, we were luckier than most; we survived. …show more content…
Everyone I know had lost someone, and even years later, we were scared that it could happen again. That is when I lost my drive. When I was in Haiti, my interest in school was deeply diminished. I could not move forward. I developed a negative mindset of thinking, what is the point of life if we can die at anytime without fulfilling our