What's your sentence? These three simple words locked me into an eternal state of thought. It got me pondering for what my sentence could be. If an all-seeing, all-knowing observer of my life were to write one sentence summing up my existence, what would it be?

I ‘am not sure, since it was quite tough to form a single sentence that defines me. I remember composing a personal narrative during 8th grade, for I wrote 3,000 words just to describe my life during the summer. For now, I have to shorten it into one sentence, one single sentence. Not 3 months, but 15 years of my existence. Seems impractical, doesn't it?

When I began to puzzle over my sentence. My sentence became like John F. Kennedy's sentence: a long muddled paragraph. I could not come up with a single sentence. My sentence was like an encyclopedia of all matters. Then I began to delve into the deeper meaning of me. I asked myself, "what is Seungwoo Nam's sentence?" Then, ideas began to spark like a light bulb. Although my sentence was a bit long, I tried my best to make it short and sweet. After through my ceaseless thoughts, it all comes down to this sentence: "?? ?? ??? ??? ? ?? ?? ?? ??? ?? ???? ??? ??? ???? ??? ??? ??? ?? ??? ????." There's the sentence, this was my sentence. This sentence defines me as a person, since you know for one, I'm Korean and two, the meaning behind the sentence was locked within my language. I can say that this was my "motivator" in some way. That quote defines me as a person on the inside, out reaching my fullest capacity of life. Helps me climb the stairs to a new better tomorrow. Oh wait, hold on a second, you don't know what I said there didn't you? You probably had no clue to what I have stated there unless you are Korean. I am not going to leave you hanging, so here's a translation of what I have said "He simply goes after that vision he wanted, with all of his capacity, strength, and sagacity, faith hope, confidence, and stern pertinacity." Now can you understand? Hope you didn't Google translate it, because the translation was not as precise. I did not achieve anything major in life to help the world, though I do want to become one. Therefore, I am merely trying to chase that with my sentence. Also, if you were wondering why I wrote my sentence in Korean, it was because I wanted to tell my true inner meaning of me. As you all know any of these truths, I am Korean and my Korean self was embarked in that sentence. Moreover, the Korean form has words that are not directly translatable by the English terminology.

In the past, this motivational sentence would have been inconceivable for me to come forward with. This was because I was under negative and sad affluence of myself. In addition, I was simply a lazy person with no attributes to succeed. Day after day, nothing would befall. In the past, I was struggling with learning English. I was struggling with having a goal. I was struggling with having meaning within my life. It was chaos, where everything spiraled out of command. The thoughts I always hold within me seemed pointless. Thoughts or sentences just like the video showed, were like a map. We often discover a path according to it and end up someplace where you not imagined to be. This compares a lot with sentences within us to guide the path without us even noticing it. As for me, I had negative thoughts, not positive ones. Nothing felt right to me, and the mindset I had applied to nearly everything I see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. Anything positive became negative; I was like the electron of all protons. The depressing thoughts were like a cocoon that would compensate me from all the good things around me. It was till one day I hatched out of that cocoon.

 It was when I wanted a change in my life. I said "no more!" This was when my positive sentence began to forge. A new course of hope began to construct within the life of Nam. So I started out to bridge my vision and reality together. I began to have this never giving up attitude. Also, giving up or losing faith was never in my list of vocabulary. I never ceased working for my goal and vision. Back in primary school, at the age of eight, not knowing a single word of English, I began my efforts to learn that knowledge to my fullest potential. English used to sound like a jumble of sounds. When the teacher spoke, the words would swirl faster and faster to become a tornado ripping through my head. At this point in time, I grew so confused that I didn't know what to do. I sometimes felt like crying for as dumb as I am, but I went on telling myself to never give up, and to have hope. Soon, I learned English by giving it all. By the end of the year, I was able to comprehend, read, speak, and even write in English. I had strength, I had faith, I had hope, I had confidence, I stern pertinacity, and I never gave up. This was when my sentence started to hold its shape. For I want to be recognized as a hard worker who had never given up. I wish to be known as the boy who knocked on every opportunity he got. The boy who never lost faith. The boy who never gave up. The boy who fought back. The boy who had a vision. My sentence represents who I am as a person. For who I am is what I am. Even though it's just a sentence, there are endless meanings of a single sentence. I embody the words of my sentence, and the countless essence within me. The sentence I've told you was what represented me and what motivated me. How about you, readers? What's your defining sentence?