We often times look at others as a competition for our lives. We think that those around us can sometimes be against us. Often times we are so concerned with our competition that we see around us that we forget to focus on the competition we have within ourselves. The quote became of significance because it supports the idea of strengthening yourself. In order for someone to show growth, they must be able to grow in multiple areas. When you have a good mental self, you can begin to show spiritual growth. As you begin to feel good, you will look good—physical strength. I have learned that in order to grow myself, I must understand why I am battling myself in becoming better. I am my biggest competition because I always want to continue to grow and become the best I can be in many ways. I think that we can grow in different area and each person has different strengths that are stronger than others. However, if I continue to try and show growth then I will be able to achieve whatever I feel may be possible. I think in order for one to grow, positivity must be important to that person. Life is never planned and we cannot predict what is going to happen. That is why life is our biggest competition. We are unsure of what may come next or how the expectations of our lives can change. The picture I chose is a great way to describe all of what life is about. It gives many different emotions we as people may feel when going through life. It explains how and what life is about and gives examples of things we many need in order to get through life. Some of the most important emotions are in larger print which brings attention to them. They all lead to the direction of living a positive life. I myself have felt many of these emotions in my life and in order for my to show growth, I had to make myself my competition and know that I can only get in the way of my own destiny. I think that if many people look at life that way and we as future teachers can get out students to think that way, then they will do their best to try and become all they an be. Students need to be reminded constantly that they can do or be anything they want to be but in order to do that, they must make themselves their competition—not other people. As a teacher, I want to encourage my students to give their full efforts in order to strengthen their physical, mental and spiritual self so they are able to fight the battle within themselves in order to achieve success. 

This quote comes from chapter ten, code switching in which Emdin describes his concept of a hybridized identity. He believes that in order for one to be truly authentic, they must be able to fluidly switch codes throughout multiple spaces while creating new codes that embrace multiple cultures. The key there is embracing multiple cultures when creating these new codes. Appreciating and comprehending other cultures will benefit one’s developing hybrid identity. This idea of hybridized identity is defined as “where an individual can embrace and express many cultures with their multiple codes seamlessly and simultaneously.” Emdin has stated that navigating multiple spaces is just one example of how students develop their hybridized identity. I think this video goes along perfectly with the quote chosen because it exemplifies what code switching looks like.