WHO AM I?

By Cari R

Some say that being the middle child is difficult. You may have days where you feel like you're not getting heard. Or there will be days where you think that your opinion doesn't matter. All of this can cause you to question who you are. Hanna Dang, a 13 year old, Yerba Buena student can confirm that it.

It is difficult to be heard and most middle child teenagers feel like this. Hanna seemed to find a way to communicate with her family through her older brother.

”Well at first I tried talking. I remember hearing people say that the middle child, they don't get to listen to a lot. At first I disagreed with that, like I mostly talked with my older brother. Like one on one cause he usually talks with me and he could express my words to my family. So he was my way of communicating, kind of,” Dang said.

Knowing that Dang had her older brother to count on made her feel heard and very comfortable, but when her brother wasn’t around it was a challenge for her to even give her opinion on something.

“Most of the time I would just stay quiet until he would come. Then I would um talk to him about it and sometimes he would go and talk to him. But sometimes he would encourage me to go and talk to them myself which sometimes I did. Um I remember when my brother went on a week trip so he was away for a week. Mostly I was just quiet doing my own work so I feel like I should do better. In, like talking. Talking about how I feel and my emotions. So I just stay quiet most of the time,” said Dang

Dang would always stay quiet but if you think about that it isn't good. This may cause you to forget about yourself. Maybe you forget who you are as a person. All of this can leave a negative impact on her. This was Dang’s experience on that.

“At first I thought that, I know that people have their own problems so I tried to comfort them but then I was forgetting about myself. I don't know how to say this but I feel like I didn't feel anything. I didn’t know if I was sad or happy or, like, if I wanted something or if I didn't want anything. So in the end I just regretted it, if i actually wanted something or not.”

The grass is always greener on the other side, Hanna Dang is still trying to be heard and be able to find out who she is. It all takes time but she is willing to work for it.