Daniel Williams

Common App Essay

10/12/2015

Prompt: Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition
from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

Atlas teetered on the edge of a serious decision. Having burdened herself with the weight
of world, she was strained to her limits. But was her life really over? It sure felt like it. Life had
thrown everything it could at her, and she was not sure if she could bounce back. Toeing the
chasm in front of her, she closed her eyes and made a decision.
She serves as the foundation of my life and sanity. Providing the worldly wisdom that
only a sibling can, she leads me through my many trials like a Sherpa through the summits of
life. I place her on a pedestal as my role model. From a young age onwards, I have always
valued her loving guidance when I am astray and her disarming smile when I am in need of a
friend. Unfortunately, I was too nave to understand that even my role model had her own
tribulations.
Immaturity had blinded me to the woes of those around me. In my prepubescent years I
was so focused on myself that I remained completely blind to the one who held up my world.
Yet she had been struggling all this time through trying circumstances without even the slightest
peep of a complaint. In my childish ignorance I had neglected her. My obliviousness had almost
cost me the one I love dearly.
Most of that day went by in the hazy blur that insubstantiality tends to create. The details
were unimportant. School, sports, everything meaningless. What had branded itself into my
soul was what waited for me when I arrived home that day. Fortunately, I cannot recall
everything that occurred, but the tragic emotions remain to this day. Reaching the doorstep, I
could already hear hysterical panic and commotion coming from within. A sudden feeling of

Daniel Williams

Common App Essay

10/12/2015

terror urged me to turn around and pretend to be blissfully unaware. Like the audience of a
horror flick begging the poor child not to turn the doorknob, my mind numbed my hands in an
attempt to stop me. I tentatively opened the door and succumbed to the raging storm of pure
dread, despair, and despondency. It swept me away.
When I snapped back into reality, hours had passed. I lay on the couch covered in a cold
sweat and fixated on the ceiling. The idea of losing her sent a shiver reverberating down my
spine and back. The mere thought of her absence created physiological pain, and it was too
much to handle. But then, a familiar hand pulled me out of my gloom. She lifted me out of that
very pit of despair that she had occupied for the better part of a year. Even when she hit rock
bottom, she was still looking out for her little brother. Tears and love flowed in equal measure at
that moment. I realized that selfless love, though it may not solve our problems, will guide us
through to the other side.
Atlas gazed down from the ledge. The dizzying heights blurred her vision. She closed
her eyes. Reaching out, I grabbed her hand securely in my own. We are a team after all. No
longer was I the same egocentric adolescent always needing support but providing none in
return. Trauma had cut gaping wounds, but together with love and guidance, we healed stronger.
Together we were children, innocent and free. The brutal realities of life struck us, but we
endured. Together we have reached adulthood, and together we will survive.