You Can Run but You Can't Hide

               Have you ever run away from a problem?  Have you ever run and hide from what was coming for you?  Have you ever ignored something bothering you or tried to get away from someone who wasn’t treating you right?  Then yes, you have run away from a problem before.  And where has it got you?  Nowhere.  Running away from your problems will do you no good except build tension and stress.  Also, no matter how far you run, it’ll eventually catch up to you.  Problems are problems and they are going to stay problems if you hide from them.  You can run but you can’t hide. 

                Claire is running away from her problems.  In Morganville Vampires, by Rachel Caine, Claire has “gone missing” because she ran away from her college because girls there were bullying her.  They pushed her down a flight of stairs and they said they weren’t even done with her.  So, Claire ran away because fear got the better end of her.  That is scary and you can empathize with her as to why she ran away but no matter how much she wanted to, she still shouldn’t have done it.  She should have done something, but not that.  This is how Claire wound up in Morganville.  For now she thinks she’s safe, but I’m still at the beginning of the book so I don’t know if she is.

I interviewed an anonymous person about running away from their problems:

-Have you ever ignored a problem that you were having from someone?

                Yes, I was having a problem with many people before and ignored it. 

-Besides ignoring it, did you do anything else?

                I would try not to talk to the person and try to even hide from them when I saw them coming and go the other way.

-How did that work for you?

                We aren’t friends anymore…

-Have you ever tried to run away from a problem or put off a problem that wasn’t caused by a person?

                Yes, sometimes I just have too many things to do and too much on my plate with school, homework and extracurricular activities that I have no time to myself and things get really hard but I had no choice but to just not do it or get really mad or try to prevent from doing these things.  A couple of times I even faked being sick.

-Do you realize that by doing what you did that you were running away from your problems?  If so, do you think that’s good?

                I guess I was sorta running away from my problems but I don’t think it’s good because it is just a huge weight on your shoulders and anyway it really doesn’t turn out good in the end. 

-Have you ever run away or felt like it?

                I have never run away before but sometimes all my problems with people or school etc make me want to. 

                As you can see, people always feel like running away from their problems because they feel that by doing something about it, they’ll make it worse, but actually it’s the opposite.  Claire ran away and didn’t do anything because she was scared of making things worse.  But just like my interviewee, Claire must feel a huge weight on her shoulders and that things aren’t going to be finished or get better.  Just like in real life, I don’t think things are going to turn out well for Claire because the mean girls got the satisfaction of seeing her run away and just because you didn’t do anything, they are going to want more of Claire. 

                You should never make problems in life or people make you run away and be scared of things.  You have to stand up to your problems with power and tackle it head on and that is when it will go away.  You can tell someone to help you; you can talk to that person or simply not let it affect you.  Don’t completely ignore it, but just don’t let it affect you.  Handle it calmly and you will find a way around it.  Don’t let your problems deprive you of your strength and courage.  Use that strength and courage to stand up to your problems and not run away from them.  Remember, you can run but you can’t hide.