Penelope

Shooting Star

When I was younger, I remembered seeing my first-ever shooting star.

My family and I went for a stroll at a local park where there was an infamous playground, and a lagoon right in the middle. It was a clear sky.

As we were walking, I looked up and a flash of light passed by. "Make a wish!" And I closed my eyes and held my little hands together.

You might be wondering what I wished for. Well, since you've read until this part I might as well tell you.

I wished to be a princess. Living in a castle, wearing pretty dresses, and getting by without a care in the world.

I didn't know, then.

How lucky I was to have that wish. How privileged I was to be only thinking about those thoughts. How selfish I was.

A pandemic that started two years ago affecting health, employment, eduction, and everything else in between, took lives and still is to this day. Climate change is real and it doesn't seem like it got any better than it was when I was a child. Mass shootings, wars, corruption, racism, fake news. This never-ending cycle of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

This is no fairy tale.