Alejandro Sosa (Alex)

Alex's at Disneyland (My Album)

"Maybe we live the lives we do because we are the only ones who can live these lives". Alejandro Sosa (Alex) would always tell me this whenever I was down in the dumps. He understands me better than anyone else, but unfortunately, he understands me because he's experienced everything in a worse condition. He's been through so much, yet he still manages to get up and give life another go.

As I interviewed Alex, I realized that he is a realistic pessimist and a determined person; a realistic pessimist thinks about all the worse outcomes of an event, but in a realistic manner. Even though being a realistic pessimist and a determined person contradict each other, he is able to pull both of them off. He shows both characteristics because he believes in all the worst outcomes of a situation, but he is determined to avoid them. One example was when he got hit by a drunk driver.

On March 2012, late at night, he left his friend's apartment and started skating towards the metro station. When suddenly, a driver did not stop at the crosswalk and hit Alex. Alex tumbled over the car and landed on his backpack. The driver got out of his car to check if the victim was dead, but he got back in the car and drove away as fast as possible. Left there screaming with pain, Alex was lying on the cold street late at night. A nearby citizen saw Alex and called 911. In the next moment, Alex was rushed to the emergency room. The doctors there told him that he broke his leg and could have broken his spine if it wasn't for his backpack.

He's been through a lot since that dreadful night. With the surgery and input of a metal rod in his leg, many disadvantages rose from the tragedy. Alex said his greatest achievement was being "finally put to the test of walking" and furthermore later on. Even though it was frightening at first, Alex is now able to walk and skate. Unfortunately, he could not run yet because of the pain that occurs in his left leg. Not being able to run had postponed his dreams of becoming a Marine. His dream of being a Marine started when his uncle died in Iraq in 2005 as a Marine. Since his uncle was a father-figure to him, he decided to "finish something [his uncle] wasn't able to". After being hit by a drunk driver, Alex had to postpone his dreams and training for the Marines.

To deal with this hardship, he believes that "there is no point in being sad so just move on and hope for the best and make the best out of the situation. Every cloud has a silver lining". With his current conditions, he thinks of the worse things that can occur and he uses those ideas to build a solid foundation for his future. By studying criminal law and physiology, he hopes to complete his dreams of becoming a police officer or a lawyer.

Most importantly, Alex has taught me to never give up on your dream no matter how small or big. He has always explained to me that we live the life we do because we were meant to live it. Meaning, no one can live our lives except ourselves because every moment of our lives could be our last. Recalling the saying, I am motivated to wake up every day and give life my all. Even when I gave up, Alex managed to pick me up and push me in the way of my dreams. No one has ever taken my fears and reformed them into my confidence, like he has. Now I can go confidently in the way of my dreams.