Reflections of a Summer (Intern)

I was wrong this whole time.

I wasn't the baby shark in the fish tank.

I wasn't the one losing chunks day by day.

That shark was not Byron, Allen, JJ, or Bob. No, it wasn't Howard or Forrest either.

The real shark was all of us and none of us. Some days we were the baby sharks, some days we were the fish. The shark was courage, the courage to stay in a tank and allow others to bite at us - try to keep us down. The shark was the risky investment, the contrarian stock pick, the pick that the fish (the market) tried to beat. Sometimes the fish won, sometimes the shark won (but really most of the time the fish beat the shit out of the shark, but that's not the point).

And while it is so fitting as a comparison to the market, the shark is even more. The shark was Byron thinking romantically about 15 years olds. The shark was me dreaming about punching Byron in the stomach after making a mistake. The shark was Allen refusing any means of birth control. A little shark fought in all of us, and all of us fought the little shark. The shark was about being different, even if society was saying "no."

It is easy to be a fish, it is easy to just follow the others, and try to fit in.

Individuality is losing its fins, losing its ability to survive.

Individuality is ready to go back to the Pet store, for another "yes" fish.

I'm not going to let it happen, no matter how much it takes out of me; I'm taking a stand.

3 months ago I was another fish.

Now, I am the shark, I will overcome the fish.

Will you?