JP Garcia
Professor Hendricks
UC Berkeley
UGBA 199
Sep 16, 2020
Growth and Gratitude Reflection 2
This week’s growth and gratitude reflection prompt is actually pretty tough. I say that
because I feel like I have always been privileged and around people who are the same way, so
that’s more or less all I’ve known. Although there was this once soccer teammate of mine who
really changed my perspective, back in 8th grade when I was still a soccer player. His name was
Ronaldo, and he went to this middle school that was more or less known for being in a less
affluent area, with regular gang violence. He wasn’t gang affiliated himself, but I know most
people in his life were, almost all of his friends. But he kept his eyes on one thing, soccer.
I think that what struck me most about Ronaldo was that he never once made any excuse,
or felt sorry for himself at all, instead he embraced the situation he was in, and used it as
motivation to make a career out of soccer. He took the bus everyday to practice, but he never
said that nor did he ever make an excuse for being late even if it wasn’t his fault. I think that he
just really put my own privilege and lifestyle in perspective. I never have to worry about being
caught in gang violence, the bus running late, or not coming home to a loving family who’s
stable. It not only more or less motivated me to be more like Ronaldo, but it just made me
develop another level of awareness and gratitude for my own life and my own circumstances. To
this day, Ronaldo is pursuing soccer at a high level, and although I’m no longer a soccer player,
I’ll always be rooting for him and although he doesn’t really know it, I’ll always be grateful for
how he changed my life.