The Drowning, MVP Donkey with Horns

Today, like Gatsby, I put on my bathing suit, jumped into the pool of the AP English discussion and, to make a long story short, drowned. I did not completely realize the irony of the moment until Ms. Serensky began begging Elliot, my writing partner, to jump in and save me. Of course I failed miserably when discussing Gatsby’s participation in a sport/athletic pastime. We all have heard the story of my swim team failure. But, I fail in much more than that. For example: everyone remembers the seventh grade football unit. Some students triumphed and others struggled, but few failed as miserably as I. I struggled so severely that while playing football, students upheld one basic rule: Do not, under any circumstances, pass the ball to Meghan Judge. Despite that rule, I somehow found myself with the ball toward the end of the period during a tied game of football.  In a state of utter panic, I threw the ball randomly, hoping my teammates would somehow cross the gym from where I stood alone and catch it. Unfortunately, I threw the ball to a member of the other team, who proceeded to run and score the winning touchdown. The other team voted me their MVP. I often look back on that gym class. I remember how I laughed and thanked her and went home and jokingly shared my great achievement with others; I even shared the experience years later with my interviewer for Johns Hopkins. I suppose, for some strange reason, I value these failures. I constantly repeat my memories as the other team’s MVP, as the last place swimmer, as the girl who also shared in discussion last year that McCourt compared a priest to a donkey with horns. Maybe I value these moments because they taught me the humor in imperfection and the need to keep moving forward, to save myself from drowning. So, we all must score the other team’s winning touchdown and drown in discussion. We must teach ourselves to not depend on our writing partners to jump in and save us, even though Elliot did so quite well. So, join Gatsby and me in the pool. Make sure to bring your flotation device.