APPLICANT #19: Brittany Riffe

Brittany Riffe is a 20-year-old student from Charleston.

Here is Brittany's video application:

Here is Brittany's current situation:

Currently I'm a student at Charleston Southern University. My major is Graphic design and my minor is communications. I enjoy playing xbox and working on illustrator. I absolutely love every little aspect of my life. Two years ago when my car accident happened and they told me I was going to be paralyzed, I would've NEVER guessed my life to be as amazing as it is today.

Here is Brittany's blog post:

Freedom means having a chance to find yourself, and be your self once you're there.

Freedom-the human value, or situation, to act according to one's will without being held up by the power of others. Even though there may be a definition of freedom in the dictionary, it doesn't necessarily apply to every person in that exact way. Many people all over the world come to the United States for their freedom. But what does freedom mean to them? Or even to you?

To me, freedom is you being you, with no exceptions. Being yourself is one of life's hardships. You strive to find out who you really are, and once you find who you are, it's difficult to stay true to yourself and end up being like someone else. Turning into someone you're not. Magazines, celebs, computer games and everything else that you see everyday make it just a little harder to be you. Thinking that all of them are "normal" making yourself believe that you should be just like them.

Think about it this way, think of the United States as a giant bowl of soup. There are so many ingredients (different people). In any soup all the ingredients are different, there is never only one ingredient. Just like America. You can choose to be the hot sauce and stand out, or maybe even the main part of the soup. Either way your you, a important piece of the dish.

I know how truly hard it is. I didn't really understand who I was until two years ago. Before then, I was just another teen-age girl trying to be like every celeb on TV and someone that I'm not. The summer before my senior year I got into a bad car accident and I broke my back, leaving me paralyzed from the bottom of my ribs down. And since then I've been treated different, looked at different and sometimes stared at like I'm an outcast. I've learned that being yourself has nothing to do with anyone but you. Making only you happy, not caring what others will think.

You have the freedom to show who you are. Dress the way you would like too, do your hair in whatever way you want! And (as long as it's not illegal) you will not be punished for looking different. Think back to when the holocaust happened, so many people were killed because they were different. I would be killed because I'm disabled and in a wheelchair, many others too. Others who maybe had a twin, had a different religion, by the color of your eyes or the color of your hair, and even because there was something physically wrong with you. Unbelievably, many other parts of our world still do things like this today.

Every time you look yourself in the mirror, is it you? I ask myself this question a lot, just to make sure that I am up to my own standards about myself. Do I want to be this person tomorrow? Or even ten years from now? My answer is always yes.

Freedom means it's okay to be you. Empower yourself, to be you. We all have the freedom to do so!

Brittany

Comments

[Bridget H.]

I have always thought you have the most beautiful spirit!! Fantastic blog!!!