I believe silence is like a cage it keeps me from being who I am, when I first found silence I could not find myself anymore I locked my feelings hidden deep inside of me. Silence does not just mean absence of sound, It can also mean absence of allowing myself to have feelings as to think what I want to think, to be who I want to be. Instead when silence became incontrol of me I became afraid to express myself, I let the world around me make decisions for me the world around me made sound for me. To be silent is as to be paralyzed, incapable of movement.  

When I was younger in elementary school I was super shy I was afraid to speak up to show people what i'm made of for example, I almost always had the answer to the teacher's question but I never ever raised my hand to say the answer out loud because I would feel like butterflies were swarming around everywhere in my body,and my heart would pound against my chest like a drummer playing bongo drums . I knew almost everybody in elementary school but almost nobody knew me it was as if everyone were giant sequoia trees and I was nothing more than a small leaf. Mom would tell me “everyone is different no one in the world is exactly like you”  “I know mom”, I would tell her not really knowing what she meant. It took me so long to understand what my mom meant. I had started middle school when I finally understood I decided to make sound and not be silent , to take my mom's advice and be different because nobody is exactly like me. Some of the things I learned help me to express myself is my clothing style, my friends, how I act /treat other people. This is how I express myself make sound and show people who I am. Without having my own choice of what I can wear, who I get to hang out with, how I act and treat other people i'm not able to show people the true me. When I can't show people who I really am nobody else can so the world is missing out.

I believe silence is a cage and I can't show the world who I am until I break my silence, and I believe everyone has the power to break their silence all it takes is confidence and the power of knowing you have a voice.







Alycia Gonzalez - Student