When forced to decide on a favorite word, I would have to choose the word if. Its many interpretations and implications allow this tiny word to have such a profound impact. Being an average teenager I occasionally encounter moments of doubt and uncertainty, but when I consider my actions, the word if always seems to appear. That one word question haunts me like Macbeth's guilt, forcing me to always question what could have, would have, or should have happened. It is the persistence of this little word that has driven me to achieve all I have so far. Risks are constantly appearing and they are always taken or denied. "If" proposes so many possibilities and many risks which previously appeared frightening are irresistible because of the possible payoffs. "If" has given me the confidence to always go ahead and shoot for my dreams because with the power of "If" anything is possible. Theodore Roosevelt once said, "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, thank to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat," if people choose to ignore the "if" attitude, then they will be left in the gray twilight. "If" is not foolproof and people do lose, but by taking chances they are open to winning and succeeding and through the combined experiences they achieve a fulfillment foreign to those who never question. It is easier in life to always accept the status quo, but through "if" Copernicus discovered the solar system, and Columbus that the world was not flat. I am proud to so associate myself with a word so strong as "if.".
