Sometimes life makes us realize things about ourselves that we wouldn’t be able to see on our own. On our journey through life we are able to find some hints, and even a few proofs that tell us that what we think to be fantasy is real. Life can show us that dreams do become reality and all we have to do is believe in ourselves and not be so willing to put all our faith in others.

People do have the power to stop us from believing in ourselves, but only if we let them. If we let people get to us, turn us down and believe them then we won’t be able to make our dreams come true. We are the only ones who can stop ourselves from accomplishing things, nobody else has that power. In our lives we may be lucky enough to meet people who only want us to be the best we can be and give our hearts to what we believe in. We will also meet those people who will say they only want what’s best for us, but all they really want is to convince us that we are not good enough. Those people like us to feel helpless because they don’t believe in us.

I believe that in 2010 people were able to see who their friends really are. This year was a year of accomplishment for many of us, though tragic to a few, and great discoveries were made by us by ourselves. Now that 2010 is about to end, we should all stop and think and ask ourselves if we were the best we could be, and if we did all we could to help others. Can we actually say that we were real friends to those who needed us? Are we actually going to look back at 2010 and say to ourselves: “I did a good job for myself and for others?” Are we going to be proud or embarrassed when we think of all we have done this year?

So many things happened this year, things that made people upset with each other. Remember the scarves situation at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School? How did people respond to 10 Brazilian American students wanting to wear scarves with the Brazilian colors when they graduated from the school? All some of them wanted to do was to hurt those graduates and offend the one teacher who believed in them when nobody else would. When no one thought those students could break the ice-hearted men, they did. The graduates did an awesome job showing that they believed in themselves and knew who they were. They proved people wrong. And most important, they proved to themselves that they were capable of making a change, and no matter what cruel things were said they did not respond in kind. They behaved with dignity.

Before 2011 even starts, how about trying to put our thoughts together and think about what we should do when the new year comes? How about starting to think now if we want to be proud or embarrassed about ourselves by this time next year? Do we want to be people who make a difference by helping others or do we want to think only of what is best for us? Is it really so hard to help people? How about helping the ones we know nothing about, nothing but the fact that they need help? Instead of showing our kids hatred, why not show them love? Instead of putting our kids down, how about believing in them? How about if we helped them with whatever plan they have? How about if we encourage them to hold their heads high?

Do some kind of good before 2010 ends. You cannot change who you are, but you can start changing who you’ll be! Do a good action before the year ends and it may be all you need to start 2011 on the right foot. Embrace your life and reach out to others because that’s how the world gets to be a better place.

Ana Carolina Nascimiento is a student at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.