Undergraduate / Using a jigsaw puzzle to describe my life [4]

Generally this essay was supposed to be about describing myself, but i realized i had to incorporate the RU topic in.

Topic: Rutgers University is a vibrant community of people with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. How would you benefit from and contribute to such an environment? Consider variables such as your talents, travels, leadership activities, volunteer services, and cultural experiences.

I open the front door to my house and instantly I feel a change in atmosphere: depression, consternation, and apprehension. I hear screams, cries, and hysteria. I want to turn around, but I shouldn't. I can't because this is the reality of my life, so I take a step in. I see my mother crying on the floor, my father screaming out his lungs, my brother ripping up the unpaid bills, and through all this mess, I see the jigsaw puzzle that I have been working on dispersed all over the floor. Now, I am infuriated. This puzzle is not just a solvable contrivance, but pieces of my life's work and experiences. Despite the ongoing pandemonium, I kneel down and try to refigure my life.

Luckily, I see three pieces attached. Each piece allows me to reminisce about the memories, relationships, and experiences I had in the three different high schools I attended. Each school consisted of vast ethnicities and cultures that not only diversified my educational experience, but allowed me to understand and familiarize myself with the quintessence of society through interaction. I further add to the three pieces with others. I pick up a broken piece and remember the early times of my pursuit to a football career, but it was abstained with a knee-injury. Another piece begins to sing the memories of my involvement in select chorus and men's choir in one of the best music programs of the state. Other pieces begin to easily attach to the figure of my multifaceted high school career.

Now, I look at a group of pieces imagining a horrifying final image, my childhood. I reach for the pieces, but my hand begins to tremble; I'm a nervous wreck. I take a deep breath and begin to recall the countless times of cries and hysteria in what is supposed to be known as the 'family' house, our house. My mother is packing her clothes and my father is on the couch unemotional, just lifeless. I'm just a little boy wondering how my family and my life would turn out. Ten years later I'm hysterical in the back seat of a police car while intoxicated, but I can focus on the ongoing hardships of my life. This is the piece I want to throw away or even replace, but without it, my masterpiece will be incomplete. So I look at it, without regret, but change.

I can't say I've been through it all, but I've been through countless lifelong experiences. Despite the recurring hardships I enabled myself to focus on the objective: to extend my limits. I have just incorporated my life into this jigsaw puzzle. It is sincere, but incomplete with countless missing pieces. New experiences, people, and knowledge will contribute to this masterpiece. I feel relieved and only hear peace. My family is gazing in my life's work from behind.