She's the Brave One

It's my sister's birthday today! I'm sad I can't be in Chicago to celebrate with her but it's a Wednesday and we both have lives to live so we celebrated a little bit early. She turns twenty this year which means nothing so I've started planning for her twenty-first instead.

In any case, I had to, of course, write a little shout out post to her. I've written about my sister and my relationship with her a couple times before, and she's even been a guest author on my blog so I'll spare you all the repeats of content and focus in on one of my favorite things about her.

For those of you that don't know, my sister suffers from a bit of social anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Sounds like a horrible combination to me, but she bears it like a champ for the most part. The crazy thing is that despite all of those emotional blocks, she is fearless.

First things first, she is studying to become a film director. Most parents I know would have a minor heart attack if their kid wanted to go into film because it's just not a dependable career (this includes my dad who pleaded repeatedly with her to get a second major at first). Consequently, many kids would be talked out of such a path early on and go on to major in something boring to get a boring job that brings in good money (enter, me).

Not her though, she saw the special features on the Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, and said yep, this is the life for me. I've always been jealous of people who know exactly what they want to do, but she not only knows, she knows she has chosen a path that is very difficult to succeed on. She knows that to become a star director, there will be a lot of shitty jobs, long days, and bad pay. Or you know, she might submit a film to Sundance next year and become a breakout star at 21. It could happen.

She also never backs down. Ever.

Let's compare us for a small moment. I have a pretty strong moral code. There are certain things that I just will not let fly and I will call people out on for the most part. However, I do have a threshold where I will flex my morals for my own personal gain. My sister does not. At least not one that I've seen. She will defend her views and others with every breath she's got and no amount of personal gain could make her budge on that. Her empathy for others is tied to directly to this moral code since she strongly believes that everyone should have equal opportunity and that people with more should help people with less. One of her common habits is eating lunch out in between classes, but if she passes someone on the street begging for food, you can bet she just gave her whole, recently purchased, lunch to that person and would go hungry that day instead. Most people I know would never do that. (Maybe I'm just friends with selfish people haha).

Furthermore, while she sometimes has trouble standing up for herself depending on the scenario, she almost never has trouble standing up for others. She refuses to let people be judged based on their demographics and will absolutely not stand for discrimination. So help anyone who tries to patronize or marginalize a group in conversation. She will RUIN you.

But in the end, it's not about her witty insults or fiery conversation, it's about the fact that she is willing to go to the ends of the earth to achieve what she believes in. Doesn't matter if it's her passion for film or her passion for others. Most people are like me, we compromise our ideals if there is something in it for us. We obviously have our limits, but we are much quicker to give up abstract beliefs when there is a reward. My sister is not. She will not flex, bend, or break.

There are tons of things I love about my sister - She can always be counted on to sing showtunes with me, she can calm me down literally within seconds, she's the best writing teacher I've ever had, the best debate partner, she has fearless style - and so on. Of course, she also has flaws, but lacking conviction is not one of them and that is perhaps my favorite thing about her.Happy birthday Kiki! I'm stocking up on sangria for next year!