One Little Word, Endless Choices

As I found myself listening to the explanation of the "One Little Word" challenge, I instantaneously started thinking of what word I would choose to best descirbe and embody me for my final semester in high school. The first words that came to my mind seemed to be popular choices amongst my classmates, which made them lose their value in my eyes. I wanted a word that few, if any, would have. I tossed around a few words for several days, trying to pick which one I would keep. Words like "motive" and "why" were some of my favorite options. I started playing along with each one individually and trying to conceive excatly how I would make the it relate back to me. It was then that I realized, I was playing it safe and picking words that, although full of promising pyscological complexity, didn't exactly relate to me. "What is the point of picking one word if it isn't going to truly resignate with me?" I thought. I mean, if this word wasn't supposed to mean something to us on a level higher than academic, why not choose 5 words? Why not choose 10? It was with this realization that my thought process made a hard left and started speeding in the opposite direction. I slowed down my desire for "greatness" and instead focused on the "realness" of the issue. I wanted a word that had a bit of a mixed connotation, one that seemed a little fishy when it came to its intentions. A word that was so much more than what was on the surface, a word like feisty.
It was perfect. Not only had I found a word that fit me perfectly, but a word that is as strong as it is passionate. When have you EVER heard of someone meek and mild doing something in a "feisty" manner? I'm willing to guess never. To me, being fesity can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing. It's one of those words that can be stretched in every direction, and I do mean every. It has connotations that range from feline to even sexual antics. Feisty is a grey word, and can be thrown in almost anywhere to add a little pizazz. Everyone knows what the word means and I suppose everyone has their own idea about whether it's an admirable trait or not. It's probably my favorite word because I see myself in it so much. Feisty people know what they want AND they go about getting it regardless of whether you like it or not. Fesity people do everything in passion and never hover on the sidelines of indecisiveness but go full throttle into expressing themselves. I would rather be the absolutely most obnoxious and fiesty individual than be a polite and personalityless nitwit. At least I would be worth something and bringing a diverse persona to the table.
Too often do people spend their time caring about what other people want them to be, trying to mold themselves appropriately. It's such a shame that we try and hide what we are from people because it may appear unfavorable. Well, I'm over it and done trying to do what's "right." To me, the challenge of picking one word turned into the challenge of finding the most "impressive" and "honorable" word. The majority of the people who told me their words seemed to me, lazy. They took the easy way out and want to know how I know this? At least five other people from our class and the others combined shared their word. Talk about original. However, all in all I am very pleased with this challenge. It's showed me that although my word may not be the most likley to be greeted with "awww"s or "I like that!"s it has been an honest word, one that actually resembles it's chooser.
- Shelby H.


Courtesy of Peter Lik Photography