Over time I have been able to learn a lot more about my self and attempted to understand my thoughts and ideals.  What makes me who I am today? What experiences have shaped me? Who are the influential people in my life and why?  It is after evaluating all this that I am able to take a step back and realize how truly blessed I am and how grateful I am for the opportunities I have been given.  Considering this, I am able to determine that my biggest beliefs circle around love, respect, and compassion.  These are traits that I myself always try to exhibit and things that I expect to see in others as well. 

These three traits tie in very well to the experience I had while journeying through the tunnel of oppression.  It showed me how much our world can be lacking in some of these categories.  How harsh words can be, and how damaging peer pressure is.  However, what I loved most was walking “into the light” at the end of the tunnel.  Seeing all the good that people do and all of the kindness in our world is what gives me hope.  This is what proves to me that love, respect, and compassion still exists out there.  We need to show this! The tunnel was a great way to come face to face with the oppression that is all around us but also with the hope that surrounds oppression.