My Inspiration (Jessica Rivera)

Life is something that cannot be enjoyed unless you can appreciate the beautiful environment as well as making connections with people of similar interest. The environment and mood in which you meet a person can determine making or breaking your relationship with that person. I remember the first time I met the 17- year- old Jessica Rivera, an extremely loving person that cares more for the life that surrounds her, including the life of tiny bugs, plants and animals.


I appreciate the things life has to offer, even the worst of days I try to see the positive. However, I started to get into the habit of doing environmentally friendly things after meeting Jessica. At the time, she was involved in multiple things: teaching children how to play soccer, community service at Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, planting trees every year in Central Park and even knitting in her free time.

One project I got involved with on Earth Day in April 2010 with Jessica was planting trees in Central Park. She showed me the steps it takes to transfer a small plant safely from one location to another. This was my first time doing something that had so much value to me. Sharing the experience with a friend, who I’m still close with two years later, shows that it helped us connect with each other better on a personal level.

I observed how delicately she handled each plant, lightly freeing them from any dust that collected on their leaves. She picked spots that had no other plants around in order to give the newly planted tree space to grow. She logically had everything figured out and in her eyes I could see that the work she was completing made her happy. I was extremely enticed by this teenage girl that was only a year younger than I was at the time. She encouraged me to write all my feelings down on paper. Sharing what I wrote afterwards was one of the hardest challenges. I eventually became comfortable with doing that when I built up enough confidence in my writing.

From that moment on, we became the best of friends. I felt such a freedom with Jessica in our daily walks in the park and visits to exhibits that I created a blog entitled “Life Is A Story To Be Told”, which housed all the poetry I wrote. Today, this blog has changed into so much more-- the title still remains the same, but it has developed into a masterpiece of my viewpoints of the world. The common topics I discuss in my blog posts can easily deviate and share connections with other topics you would never think of. The simple things found in life helped me develop as a person and realize that seeking answers and asking questions is not a bad quality at all. Furthermore, being open minded in the things we do today can open a door to new opportunities for us tomorrow. I would like to thank my best friend Jessica Rivera for showing me the path to writing by helping me discover myself through the things I wrote.