[Random Post] Where's YOUR voice?

My family is moving to Suwon next month. Up until now, we had to move our house almost every three or four years because of my father's work. I lived in several cities including Cheonan, Gumi, and Goyang. But in December, we are finally settling down in the city that I was born in. I do not remember much about the city since my family left Suwon before I turned two, but I am pretty fond of the place because it has many sports complexes, cultural heritages such as Hwaseong Fortress, and lively local markets. Plus, it is a special place for my parents because they got married here. One of my aunt is living there, and every time we visited her place, my parents reminisce there precious memories while passing by the house they used to live in. So it is a quite meaningful decision to move to Suwon since we are buying a house where my family was formed.

I spent weekend at home two weeks ago and went through piles of books and stuff to choose what to take and what to throw away before moving. I had to organize my stuff then since I will not be coming home until the end of the semester. While looking over stack of notebooks, handouts, textbooks, and so on, I found something strange. I kept almost everything I did in school activities and assignments, but most of them did not have MY voice. For example, vacation homework I did in elementary school, such as a report written after a visit to a museum, listed things I saw there rather than my feelings or realizations. A bunch of handouts I received in middle school were a pool of information which is not really different from what Internet or a library contains. I discovered that things I thought were important were actually had little or no value. Instead, what is truly valuable was stating my own opinion using the knowledge I possess in my head. Unless the knowledge is adequately used to support my idea, it is nothing but a useless part that takes up my brain.

When I came to this realization, my diaries that I kept from my childhood seemed more important than numerous textbooks and handouts. While books included important information a typical middle school student should be aware of, they hardly had space for my ideas. Also, they are not the only source I can access to the data. However, my voice comes out of only my head and diaries are stories of my thoughts, my memories, and my life. Paintings I drew when I was an elementary school student are another example. Even though I am a terrible painter, I suddenly felt that I had to carry them instead of textbooks because I CREATED them. There are no paintings like I created in the world, and this point makes my works so meaningful and valuable.

It took me over two hours to complete the organizing process, but I did not think it was just a waste of time. I could learned a few important lessons; that I should not lose my own voice, that I should understand knowledge in order to voice my opinion in a more logical and clearer way, and that my voice is what makes me special.