Department of English

Spring 2006 High School Edition

God's Masterpiece

Jeremiah Stanton
Personal Essay (9th-10th)
First Place
Parowan High School
Teacher: Gail Harris

My name is Jeremiah Stanton, and I’m here to tell you my story.  I’m fifteen years old, I live in a house of three girls, and my dad does not live with us.  It’s been this way for about eleven years. My cousin moved in with us a few years back making the three girls.  Five years back we moved from Las Vegas and all I had ever known was the city, so it was a big change. 

At first I didn’t like it in the country.  It was strange and cold, very different and uncomfortable, but it grew on me.  My dad showed me all the good fishing and hunting spots around here and over the mountain, clearly showing me all of the fun that I could have out in the woods compared to the city.

Well ain’t life a kick in the butt? A few months after we moved here, I find out that my dad’s in prison.  Sweet… not!  So for the next year and a half, no dad.  Oh well, nothing new, seeing as how when he lived in Vegas he never bothered to come see us. We just went on with our lives.

Before you know it he’s out and living with us for the summer.  Lots of fun there, just makin’ up for lost time.  We would see him on and off, but yet again we found out he’s in prison, this time for three years.

With my mom working eight jobs to support us and me not having a job it makes things hard.  A fifteen year old with no money, no dad, and a mom who’s hardly ever home because of work makes for a heck of a tough time. 

He gets out in January, and he says he’s changed.  I sure hope so, because if he screws up again, I don’t know what I’ll do.  I’m depressed as it is, let alone if he hurts us once again.  He keeps talking about our connection to the land and how he wants to take me hunting, trapping, fishing, and camping.  I like to do all these things as they calm and relax me.  The mountains are my oasis with their vivid beauty and the wonderful smell of sage and pine; even dirt smells sweet.  I love the mountains and my home in them.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I recently took a family trip to California, and I tried to figure out how I used to live in the city, away from jagged mountains and rolling hills with no scenic views anywhere.  It just boggled my mind because I’m so connected to the land here.  The only way I’d move is if the mountains were thirty minutes away or less.  I love the outdoors and being in them.  The desert is so bland and dry.  It makes you thirsty.

I used to hate snow, but now I love it.  The area I live in is just a great place to ski and be active in all the other snow sports available to me.  The best part of all this is that if I need to relax, think or just ponder there are so many great places to do so. 

I feel most connected to the land when I’m out thinking and taking pictures.  One career I’m interested in is photography.  I just get so much back from the pictures and the land that is captured in a spectacular moment in time that can never be recreated no matter how hard I try.  I feel at peace.  Some may say I’m obsessed, but I don’t care.  It’s probably my main way of relieving stress and just relaxing. It’s one of the best thing ever created, and I’d never give it up for any other thing in the world. 

Some people have never seen surroundings like this, and they don’t know what they are missing—the sounds, sights, smells or any thing else related to country living.  It saddens me that they have never known such beauty, and may never have the opportunity to see God’s masterpiece. 

With my photography, capturing special moments in time might at least give them the chance to see the beauty.  I am connected to the land.  The land is me and I am the land.  That’s the way it always will be.