<p>I am really lost as to what I should pick for my topic. I guess my experiences (the ones that would make a good essay) would be:</p>
<p>-Volunteering at a local hospital but later choosing to follow a chaplain around (so as to avoid the boredom of doing nothing) and ending up talking to several patients that were either on the verge of death or incredibly depressed which was a incredibly moving and changing experience for me.</p>
<p>-Going to Mock Trial and losing, after several hundred hours of practice (losing in the sense of not getting a gavel).</p>
<p>-Working on the school pond over the last few months with only two other people and failing to make significant headway as no one else showed up, still proud of how far we got.</p>
<p>-Not being able to say goodbye to an uncle of mine before he went.</p>
<p>I don't really want others to choose my topic for me but I would like some input as to which ones may be too controversial etc. or which ones seem too cliche or tired. </p>
<p>I'm also wondering if I should avoid anything in my essays. With the hospital experience it struck me how other people had these problems that I couldn't actually comprehend until that point. Before then I just thought "just" another person had cancer when I first heard this type of news from others but after actually talking to people face to face and hearing their stories it changed the way I looked at the afflictions (all kinds) affecting other people. It also showed me a bit more about the pain people could actually go through (I was really sheltered) such as when I was with a patient who began to scream out in pain whenever someone attempted to put an IV in his arm but was too deaf to to hear why he was being caused pain (I tried to put my phone to his ear after downloading an amplification app to see if it would help although it didn't). It struck me how he "went" the next day as I was in the same room with him for several hours asking him questions on his family etc. (It was a no one dies alone program and the chaplain was a bit late so I was put in instead but once the chaplain came I didn't want to leave) and the whole experience really got me out of my shell.). I should note that from the next day onwards I decided to go with the chaplain as doing that duty made me feel like I was actually doing something worthwile. </p>
<p>I am wondering if saying any of that would be too controversial in an essay or if spilling out experiences like that are okay?</p>