71. Write about a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence. (Hope College)

Once I read a book about star where it says if you wish when you see the shooting star, all your wishes come true. I used to believe what it said and would stay up very late to watch a shooting star.

I made the most impossible wishes. I wished to become the smartest, richest, and happiest man in the world; basically I wished to become a perfect man in the world. And, of course, I wished for a million more wishes so I would never run out.

I believed my wishes to come true. Obviously, it didn’t come true. It was a huge disappointment for me. It really was. I was about to abandon my wishes. I was thinking maybe I was too stupid to believe what it says in the book. I came to my mom and told her the whole story. I thought she would agree with me, but my mom said I just didn’t do it right. She said, “It only works in a certain way.” I believed her because she was forty years older than me and knew the ways of the world; nothing she said could be wrong.

I went back to my room and tried to figure out the proper way to do it. Apparently, I could not figure it out right away, but I found what I did wrong after several years. All I did was to wish and wait. The proper way was to wish and try. I did not do the second half of making it become true. I did not try to gain it. I just waited. That was what was wrong.

Now I am not only wishing, but actually trying to get it. I strongly believe, one day, my wishes will come true.