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Personal Narrative: Oxygen Masks

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Sitting in the uncomfortable seat made out of polyurethane foam and breathing in the stale airplane air, the inflight safety announcement starts: “In the case of lost cabin pressure, oxygen masks will drop...Make sure your mask is secure before helping others”
Wait, what? Secure your mask before helping others? Throughout the innumerable plane rides, I continued to mull over this seemingly simple instruction. Aren’t we supposed to put others first? I was so used to the principle of compromising my own needs for others; that doing things for others was the only way I could be worthy.
“What do you want to do when you grow up?” read the worksheet my first grade teacher handed out. “I want to save the world,” I sprawled. At that time, saving the world meant stopping global warming and extending my bedtime to 9:30. I was the little girl with the messy hair who always misplaced her toys and wanted to lock those away who hurt anyone. My sister and I made my dolls fly, made them great scientists, made them as strong as they could be. And so when I was older, I asked, “Where are all the female superheroes?”
As I entered my adolescence, I was never satisfied. I was hesitant to speak up, worrying that …show more content…

You have to save yourself first. I realized I couldn’t be motivated to help others if I didn’t have the motivation to help myself. No one makes change by staying quiet. My voice no longer trembles when speaking up. I want to inspire. I want to be free of expectation. I want to be my own female superhero and to let people know that nothing should silence you. In fact, I’ve become a partner and voice for justice for women who have been victimized by the Japanese Army during WWII [YIKE, what a bulky sentence]. The idea of boundless confidence is a work in progress but I realized that once you get a clear image of who you are and notice your inner calling of how to serve others you ultimately achieve the greater goal of “saving the

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