Lipstick

by Ethan Ticktin

“She used her creative instincts and took her lipstick and wrote where they were being taken. This way, when my great-grandpa got home, he'd know where to go to try to save them.”

Hi. My name is Ethan, and I have always had a creative intuition. My dad was not very creative, so I was not sure where this trait came from. For example, one time when I was hanging out with friends up in Marin, we were trying to get to the beach. We quickly got lost, and there was no service. None of us knew what to do, and my car was running low on gas. We passed by many trails that go into the hills, and eventually, I decided to pull over and look at one of the trail maps. I was not sure if the trail map would even be helpful, but I was able to see that the town that the beach was in was very far south of where we ended up.

Now we knew where we were and where we needed to go, but we were not sure of how to get there because there was still no service. I then realized that the map on my phone would still show up, but not give me live directions. I had to pay close attention to the map and follow it to make sure we didn't get lost again. We finally made it to the beach and enjoyed our lunch.

When I was in eighth grade, my grandma was telling my sister and me a story about her mom, my great-grandma, named Rose. My great-grandma was about twenty. She was living in Germany. One day, while my great-grandpa was at work, Rose had her parents over for lunch. While they were enjoying a nice meal together, there was a knock at that door. It was the Nazis. The Nazis came to take the three of them away to a camp. Before they were taken, my great-grandma asked if she could go to the bathroom. She wasn't actually going to the bathroom, though. Instead, she used her creative instincts and took her lipstick and wrote where they were being taken. This way, when my great-grandpa got home, he'd know where to go to try to save them.

When he got back to the house, he saw the message and went straight to the camp. Once he was there, he used his own creative skills and devised a plan to get his family out. He decided to jump on top of cars and tables while yelling and screaming, acting like a crazy man until they were finally released. As crazy it may seem, this plan actually worked, which may be obvious, because I'm here to tell the story of it.

From hearing this story, I finally saw how important and useful creative intuition can be. It is one of the main reasons I'm alive, and I am now so thankful I am able to have this trait and carry on the ability to help others as my great-grandpa did. It helped me find my way out of the middle of nowhere, similar to how it helped my great-grandparents out of a sticky situation.