#mypiece

It may not show through his overwhelmingly positive personality, but there have obviously been obstacles Luis has had to overcome. Namely, Luis struggles with finding a balance between family, friends, work and school. Luis is employed at Shopper’s Drug Mart, working long hours that go up until midnight. Because of this, most of Luis’ school nights are spent awake completing homework and assignments. Procrastination is Luis’ biggest enemy, and he easily falls victim to it when it comes to friends. People are often times distracting to Luis, and these distractions lead to the lack of his completed work. Additionally, Luis goes out of his way to please all those around him, even if it results in self-sabotage. Luis can be too caring, and he loses sense of his own priorities when it comes to helping out a friend. In a way, Luis uses his friends as an excuse to turn a blind eye to his personal tasks, as being a good friend becomes another excuse to procrastinate. Furthermore, recently Luis reached, what he would call, his ultimate low. When schoolwork piled up, friends were absent, and family seemed preoccupied, Luis felt as though he had hit rock bottom. In addition to these struggles, the biggest obstacle that Luis has had to face is racial discrimination. As a child, Luis had always been labelled as “the Mexican.” At first, Luis did not understand why his heritage could be used as an insult or seen as a negative comment, but because of the constant stereotyping from his peers and the media, Luis’ mindset began to change. Luis began to feel ashamed of his background, and tried to hide the fact that he could speak another language. However as he grew older, Luis learned to embrace his origins and, like most things in his life, looked at the bright side. Luis made it his mission to represent Mexico in a positive light, and to reverse society’s close-minded views of his home country. Although he has faced multiple obstacles over the course of his life, Luis has always steered for the rational route, and learned that once you have hit the bottom, there is nowhere left to go but up.

You may be wondering, where does he get all this wise, positive energy? The simple answer is that it’s in his genes. Once when he was very young, Luis’ father said to him: “It takes three strikes to get out. You have to continue to fight and never give up, because you are never out on the first strike.” Since that day, Luis wakes up every morning, ready to learn from his mistakes, and especially ready to learn from his father. If he had to choose just one person, Luis would say that his biggest inspiration is his dad. Arturo Diaz-Soto, a father of four children, works hard for his family. In fact, he worked himself to the bone to be able to call Canada a home. It was here that Arturo and his wife, Lina, started their family. Since he was a young toddler, Luis has looked up to his father, and seen him as the rock of the Diaz-Soto home. Arturo works day and night to ensure his family has a healthy and secure lifestyle, and there has never been a day where Arturo was unaffectionate to his children and wife. Luis specifically admires his father’s altruistic personality, as he exceeds his work load and still manages to give his family attention, and hopes to be able to make similar sacrifices for his own family in the future. Luis mirrors his father’s personality traits on the daily, and hopes to one day be as selfless, hardworking, dedicated and caring as his father.

Luis’ smile radiates the hallways of Jean Vanier Catholic Secondary School. In fact, it’s almost contagious. Everyone in his presence is influenced by his positivity, but one would be surprised to know that Luis has travelled a long, hard road to get his confidence to where it stands today. Luis only recently learned to come out of his protective shell, and take chances. His justification is that fate is set, and that it is okay to take a risk if it means that you’ll get the experience. Despite the fact that he is always seemingly content, Luis is not exempted from living a life with a few regrets. Luis constantly reflects on his past decisions, and finds disappointment not in his action, but rather, in the lack thereof. Luis regrets losing bonding time with extended family when they visit Canada, he finds that his true background lies within them. Luis believes that family is an essential part of any lifestyle, so being apart from his own family upsets him. Luis is also contrite that he does not give significance to the little things in life that can go a long way. Luis realizes that a short “hello” or “goodnight” may not seem like much to him, but it may brighten up his parents’ whole day. As previously stated, Luis wants to repay his parents for all that they have given him, and he feels that by starting to acknowledge them and displaying their importance in his life will help to contribute to that. Luis also greatly regrets wasting his time when it comes to friendships. Throughout high school, Luis always felt as though he was a burden to those around him, an annoyance, the gum stuck under your shoe. It was because of this discomfort, that Luis was hesitant to form close relationships and find true friends. True, Luis found a handful of trustworthy people through classes, clubs or sports, but in the back of his mind, he still felt like as if his friendships were founded on pity. Eventually, Luis realized that the people in his life truly loved him, and that he was far from being sticky, annoying gum. The tragic part is that this revelation occurred to Luis in the final months of his last year in high school. Although they caused a lot of pain throughout his life, it was through these built-up regrets that Luis learned a very important lesson: it is rare for something to happen twice, but nothing will ever repeat itself the same, exact way.  

“Plan for victory, prepare for failure.” This is Luis’ life motto. The way he sees it, you can aim for good goals, but you must never put yourself in a situation where you are lost. Luis has learned that you should always try to have control of your own life, and to always make a backup plan to fall on. As gaining success has always been part of Luis’ plan, his biggest fear is respectively to fail on his own terms. This fear prompted his dominant personality to always have things under control. Luis never disappoints, but when the situation is not in his hands, and he does not have it on paper, things start to go downhill. Long story short, Luis is a control freak, but being that way is the gate to his own path of success. That success is defined by having a loving family, with many children, and studying to be a nurse practitioner in five years.

Luis is a dedicated student, a reliable friend, a trustworthy son, and an accomplished person in general. In a shockingly short amount of time, Luis has managed to learn many life lessons and has passed what he learned down to his peers, siblings and friends. Luis has a set plan for his future life, including his career and family, however he is also prepared if that plan gets off track. With the help of his family and friends, Luis has formed into a positive, young man who is wise beyond his years, and has certainly left bits of himself in everyone around him.