Character RR2

Yashan Lei                                         RR2

Sometimes we tend to follow the bad things that our older sister or brother are doing, because if they could do that, why can't we? The important thing is, we make the decision of becoming an admirable person or a disgraceful person. It's our choice.

Out of Reach by Carrie Acros is about Rachel going out to find her brother, Micah, who had left home without a word. Micah chose drugs over his precious family and Rachel wanted him to come back to her and go back to his own self again. Even though Micah had made wrong choices, I learned that teens like Rachel don't necessary follow his steps.

For example, when Rachel was in a poor community, she saw a young boy creating artworks on the sandy beach in front of a crowd so she gave him her change. Micah, on the other hand, wasted his college money on drugs. When she donated her money, this showed her act of kindness and this is a good thing to do, not like Micah who doesn't care about how his family would feel when he disappeared. In addition, when Rachel saw a bloody man who got beat up very badly, she held him and called the police. Most people will feel the repellent to hold a stranger who is bleeding a lot but not Rachel. She comforted him and this illustrated that she wanted to help and she cared. She didn't follow Micah's selfishness and leaving his family behind.

So even when Micah didn't make a good example for his younger sister, Rachel didn't follow his bad example. She is different because she didn't became a heartless person like him, she donates her money and even cared for a stranger that was badly injured. The author made me think that not all teens follow the bad things their family member is doing, they have a choice and Rachel's decision is headed in the right direction. I realized that sometimes, we need to make our very own choice on whether or not that we should follow someone else's step, because the step we take will make up ourselves and who we are as a person. We choose to receive or not to receive respect from the people around us from what we do and how we make our choices.