by Emma Kate Callahan

Sunday, Feb. 9, sitting in mass at Holy Cross, a church in Overland Park, Kan., I listen with the occasional baby cry or child whine in the background, to the Rev. Mike Stubbs give a homily comparing people to beautiful, inconsistent fireworks and steady flashlights.

Suddenly, my dad starts poking me. “Emma Kate, Emma Kate,” he whispers.

Because we are eight or nine pews back I’m not worried that we will cause a commotion but resist the urge to scream, “WHAT, what’s the big deal, what could be more important that actually paying attention in mass?”

Then my dad points and nudges toward the Rev. Stubbs. My initial reaction is to say, “Yes father, that’s the priest, he’s giving a homily, can I listen now?”

Then, my dad says something about me having a journalism paper. “Right, I have a lot of work to do in journalism, thanks for reminding me in the middle of mass.”

For a second I don’t get it, but soon realize, duh, this homily, comparing people to fireworks and flashlights, ironically fits the topic of my column exactly! Finally, I am appreciative of my dad for annoying me and get to go back to paying attention to mass. But I keep the Rev. Stubbs’s homily and what my dad said in the back of my mind.

I watch, entranced as the match lights the end of the fire cracker. For a second, all is quiet, dead silent. Then, suddenly, the firecracker burst into the sky. BOOM! The firecracker goes off.

Millions of pieces of light shoot into the air; just for an instant the sky lights up with colors of red, white and blue. As soon as it went off, the firecracker is again quiet, dead silent, as it was only seconds ago. The world is dark, colorless, only scarred ashes remain.

Like firecrackers, people who live for attraction and beauty of an instant find themselves always searching for the next big BOOM. They limit themselves because they fail to look at the big picture and develop into a well-rounded person.

Nowadays, teens seem to focus on the parts of themselves that come easiest to them or that are most fun to pursue: their social side, or their mathematics brain, or their fashion taste, or their athletic abilities. Because they fail to push and improve themselves the potential of a magnificent picture remains in black and white.

Little do they realize, to achieve the highest potential they must strive to improve the parts of them that seem impossible to conquer. It is important to focus on oneself and accomplishments, but also important to pursue work in service and selflessness.

Pursuits become fleeting when teens focus only on themselves, such as money or clothing instead of on lifelong skills such as academics.

For example, teens could work in the soup kitchen or be open to people of different interests so as to gain new ideas and fully develop themselves. This creates a more rounded person who does not always stick in their comfort zone. The person-who challenges themself, turns the black and white picture into a lively, colorful masterpiece.

A few weeks into high school, I found I struggled with simple vocabulary the hard way. Since then, I have struggled to overcome this weakness with each vocabulary test. I battle everyday with this shortcoming and will continue to do so. Still, someday, I may be able to conquer this flaw and the importance in challenging oneself will be revealed to its fullest, which is why we must dare ourselves to open ourselves everyday.