Maturation is a wonderful thing – if and when it happens, of course. If we’re really fortunate, throughout our lives we have the wherewithal to learn from our mistaken assumptions and correct course. H. G. Wells once famously wrote, “There’s truths you have to grow into.” For some of us, it takes decades to grow into these truths. But sometimes even an adolescent has the ability to face life’s hard truths, as with twelve-year-old Anika Istok.
Anika Istok is completing the seventh grade at the Gordon School in East Providence. She lives with her family in Cranston.