The official site of the Torch, the student-run newspaper at Glenbrook North High School.

Torch

The official site of the Torch, the student-run newspaper at Glenbrook North High School.

Torch

The official site of the Torch, the student-run newspaper at Glenbrook North High School.

Torch

Excuses, excuses

We all have something that we think holds us back.

For me it was the fact that I was a small Pakistani boy. As a 5-foot, 100 pound freshman I am proud to say I was never shoved into any lockers. Now as a 5-foot-7-inch, 125 pound senior I am still surprised I have not found myself in one.

Besides the obviously impressive physical growth, I also learned a few things over my four years at GBN. You’ll be surprised to hear that sine squared plus cosine squared equals 1 was not the most important.

My biggest breakthrough was on the day that I realized that genetics were not holding me back, it was just my excuse. It had become my excuse for why I was not the most popular kid, it was my excuse for why I could not get the girl, it was my excuse for not being the fastest or strongest.

From that day on I started to notice that I make hundreds of excuses every day. I had an excuse for not studying, I had an excuse for not cleaning my room, I had an excuse for not going to exercise.

I do not have any final last words or mystifying quote. Just a question.

What is your excuse?