By Mya Strayer

We are all cakes. I know, it seems like a silly thing to compare us to. We are far too intricate, too complex to be compared to something as simple as a cake.
Truthfully though, we are all cakes.
Because every cake has its own unique mixture of ingredients that makes it different. Sure, we all have most of the same ingredients, like flour, sugar, eggs and salt. Some of us have just a little more sugar, and some of us have a little more salt.
Some of us are huge, with overlapping layers and different flavors, and some of us are small and single dimensioned. Some of us are simply bland, while some of us are packed with add-ons like sprinkles, or cocoa powder, or chocolate chips. But we all are cakes. Because a cake is just a cake.
But, then again, what is a cake? It’s not just a mixture of ingredients. Cakes are mixed, baked, decorated. You may have the best cake batter, but if it’s not baked properly, it may end up worse than just a bowl of flour and water.
Some of us think we may have the best batter in the world, and so we stick it in the oven. But, sometimes, it’s not the best. Once we have placed it into the oven, we never take it back out. You can decorate your cake to make it look extravagant, and everyone may adore it, but if it’s a bad cake, it’s a bad cake. In the same way, you may never decorate your cake, and people may never notice it, but it could still be the best cake in the world.
What am I trying to say?Maybe I’m just rambling on about cakes. Maybe I’m trying to say to my mother, who is continuously arguing with my brother, she should let him find his own recipe.
Maybe I’m saying to my friends, whom, at age fourteen, are trying to throw their cake into the oven, they should give themselves time.
Or maybe I’m trying to say to some, that add-ons don’t make the cake.
Maybe, most importantly, I’m trying to say to myself that when the going gets tough, to just keep mixing.
But, then again, maybe we are just as simple as cakes. Or maybe cakes are just as complex as us. Maybe.
Mya Strayer is a freshman at Clarkston Junior High School and the daughter of Lance and Lisa Strayer. She loves acting, piano, and writing. “That was actually why I really wanted to publish one of my writing entries, one that wasn’t made for school, but one that came from me. Although I probably would never have sent in any of my pieces had it not been for my English teacher, Erin Shaw. She helped to show me the actual value of my writing, and how I can manipulate and enhance it,” she said.