Picture yourself on the day of your High School Graduation:
You're standing on that grandiose stage, overlooking the numerous Parents who have spent years sacrificing time and financial assistance to provide you with the best education possible. Their tears being those of pride, happiness, and accomplishment. You shake the hands of those who guided you through your time in High School and helped you progress along the right direction.
You assume you know where you will be in a year from now; what ever scholarship provided or what ever idea instilled in your idealistic mind will manifest into greatness. You know this and you will sense this. You will be going to College to pursue a four year degree in what ever said topic, have a decent job and you're life on track. You're ideas of anything other than college are little to none. You think you know yourself by now and who you are, and are ready to take on the world.
Now flash forward a year from now:
You're standing with a group of 80 other young men. Individuals from all likes in America. Your face is covered in mud, sweat, and paint but your heart is swelling with emotion. You are wearing a dirty green blouse and dirty green trousers with boots drenched in mud. You have a Rifle slinged on your back and are standing at parade rest. You raise your right hand and repeat the oath; the same oath you took so long ago that you'd never thought you would say.
You stand there awaiting the prized possession: The Eagle, Globe, and Anchor. The one thing your Leaders have said you would never reach. The one thing you spent the past three months on a God Forsaken Island sweating and crying yourself to sleep at night to reach. They stand in front of you and present you with this prized possession. They shake your hand and say the words you'd never expect to hear:
"Congratulations, Marine."
You think back in you're head about how much you have given for this moment. You think about how you would never end up become the person you are now. And that's alright because we never know where we are gonna be in a year from now.
Take it from me. When I was in High School, I had no intentions on joining the Military. All I wanted to do was have fun, go to the Gym and win a Gold Medal in the Olympics. I thought that I would have a blast in College(well, State College for that matter), and I thought I would be on track for a Degree in Business and open up a gym. I had many recruiters talk to me about enlisting, nevertheless I was adamant on continuing my education ambitions.
Unfortunately, the Universe in all its higher majesty had a different approach for my life.
About a week after I went to EDC Orlando were the Terrorist Attacks in Paris and I felt like I was getting nowhere in college and had a call to service. I saw perspective on things and how the world moved and I felt like I needed to take control of it.
So I left college and enlisted in the Marine Corps.
My point on the matter being:
Life doesn't change, Your Perspective does.
