Full Metal Heart

BY SHEETAL HARAKH, GRADE 11

“You won’t take him too. Give him back! He’s my brother! Take my leg. Take my arm! Take my heart, ANYTHING, YOU CAN HAVE IT! Just give him back! He’s my little brother, he’s all I have left!”

A bolt of electricity ran through my veins. My fists were clenched and my nails dug into the palms of my small, soft hands. After years of not knowing what I wanted to be when I grew up, years of being hopeless and uncertain of my place in the world...

I finally knew.

I was sitting on my hardwood floor, legs crossed, far too close to the TV screen as I always did. A random television series lit up the screen and I was instantly intrigued by the art style, as well as the upbeat, eccentric music that followed the opening. I was transfixed with the first episode. The relatable and likeable characters, the fantasy elements, the plot, everything intrigued me. The second episode however, is what really changed my life.

My heart raced and tears silently rolled down my face as I watched the story of a young boy and his younger brother risk everything to bring back his dead mother. In the midst of the experiment, the youngest of the two lost his ability to control his body and the eldest lost an arm and leg. I was destroyed. All hope seemed lost for these two brilliant children capable of performing alchemy at such a young age. That feeling that was indescribable at the

time took over my thoughts for days. Imagining my life with my brother paralyzed due to a plan I had instigated left goosebumps running down my arms and made the hairs on my neck stand.

“There must be a way to help them,” I thought.

Shadows danced across the walls of my living room as the television played an advertisement. My mind raced, and sorrow filled my thoughts as I tapped my hands on my thighs impatiently as the commercial continued.

“Please let someone help them.” I said aloud.

As if on cue, the show came back. A family friend of the boys who was a biomedical engineer created a prosthetic arm which rehabilitated the eldest and allowed him to continue the science of alchemy to restore his brother’s body. Suddenly I knew what I wanted to do; I wanted to give people their hope back. Empathy is the strongest source of inspiration and determination.

Since then, I have made becoming a biomedical engineer my ambition and won’t be satisfied with myself until I accomplish my goal. To this day, whenever the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” is asked, I answer without hesitation and with confidence. I will become a biomedical engineer, and whenever things get hard or I think about giving up, I think about that episode and I think about all I lives I could change; it never fails to leave me inspired.