“She has no idea. The effect she can have.” 
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

And I think that's the part of Katniss that I associate with the most. Because looking back, it seems like I was the same way. I always wondered why I had friends. I don't think I really tried. It seemed like they just appeared. At various times they seemed like they gravitated towards me. I never figured out why I got nominated to Prom and Homecoming courts. I never thought I was popular. I never wanted to be a leader. If anything, always thought the only leading I do is by example. And that's what I see in Katniss. How she just did her things. Not trying to make friends, be popular, but just doing what she had to do. Yet she was noticed. People knew her. And she didn't do anything special. She just had it. I'm reminded of Swingers, and being so money and not knowing it. And friends directed that comment towards me. And I didn't believe it. I still don't. Probably no longer applicable, but at the time? I think back to that glorious summer, with so many choices. Of all the times it felt like people were following, looking to me for direction. And I wasn't leading, I was just going. And I wasn't thinking of leading. But that confluence of what people are looking for combined with the rather selfishness of someone so self absorbed, they don't see their effect on the outside world. Yet I touched upon this in my salutatorian speech, of the ripples, of the effect we have, known and unknown. I wonder how many times I've shirked from a possible position of power. When I could have become greater by accepting the mantle placed upon me, or expected of me, but instead remained selfish and self absorbed. How much have I left on the table by not becoming the mockingjay?