Univ. of Chicago Essay

ESSAY OPTION 5.

In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, pose a question of your own. If your prompt is original and thoughtful, then you should have little trouble writing a great essay. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun

Where Is My Happy Ending?

   The umpire blew his whistle, loud and clear, the forwards kicked the ball, signifying the beginning of the match. Until then, I had been rather full of hope - yet insecure of what might happen next. That was how my very first game as a member of KMLA's soccer team, CGV, began and ended as a horrible nightmare.
   It was early April, when small snowflakes still flew in the atmosphere because of the cold weather. I was on the starting match squad, supposed to manage the defense of our team. I found it both exciting and scary to watch opponent actually dribble and pass to each other within a few meters from me. But wait - only a few metes? The ball was flying towards me - it was my turn to receive and return the ball. I aimed and swung my leg, stiff and horrified. But I guess I missed. The center forwards forcefully towards me, elegantly possessed the ball, swiftly turned around and powerfully struck a nice, clean shot. Match score 0 - 1, the inception of ruin, doom and nightmare.
   The following 60 minuets, needless to be explained, were so painful that I only waited for the final whistle to be blown. I kept scolding myself: "What have you done!" "You blotched an important game - your team might lose!" "Everything went wrong because of you!? Honestly, I hated myself. And I guess my teammates, although not explicitly, expressed sorrow and disappointment about my stupid mistake. Fortunately, Our team scored an equalizer in the 2nd half. Nonetheless, agony and shame did not leave my mind for a couple of weeks.
   I wish there was a happy ending to this awful, painful story. If I had overcome my failure and, on the next match, scored the match winning goal, this would have been a cliche, another common hero story. Frankly, there have been no changes in my soccer skills nor there has been a second match for me. Only a recognition and revelation of one history-lasting proverb: "This too shall pass." It is important not only to learn from failures, but also to learn how to bear them. Pain is short and life is long.