Someone Who Made a Difference
There is one person that has had a huge impact on my life. He completely changed my perspective. His name is Ali Nourbakhsh. He is a speaker from Rachel’s Challenge. He travels all across the world to present and talk to kids about the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado. I’ve never seen somebody catch so many people’s attention as much as he did. There wasn’t anybody who wasn’t paying attention to him, and most didn’t have a dry eye. He was so inspirational.
On November 16, 2012, I was introduced to Rachel’s Challenge by a guy named Ali Nourbakhsh. He came to Sissonville High School to present the program to the students and teachers and also talk about Rachel and what happened the day of the shooting. The way he presented it was so moving. He made people realize a lot of things about life and how it can end so quickly that you shouldn’t take anything for granted. The thing that caught my eye the most was when he showed the picture Rachel was working on that she had finished the morning of the shooting in class. It was a drawing of a rose and a set of eyes that had tears coming down from them. It was exactly 13 tears, which was how many students were killed in the shooting. Investigators found it after everything had happened.
Another thing that caught me by surprise was Rachel telling people she was going to die at a young age. She could feel it. Everybody thought she was being sarcastic until this horrific tragedy happened. Rachel was one of the nicest people you’d ever meet. If you needed a friend, she’d be there. If you needed help with something, she’d be there. I found it amazing that she stood up to two big guys that were bullying a smaller guy and told them they would have to go through her if they wanted to get to him. From that day on, Rachel and the guy that was being picked on became best friends and even though she was his only friend, it meant something to him because he was planning to attempt suicide....