The first paragraph of Bonnie's personal statement is much too impersonal. Her essay sounds as if it is going to be a discussion of Forrest Gump, and not an application essay about herself. (As a writer, Bonnie seems to acknowledge this problem when she says: "But this essay is not about the movie, it's about me." If you sense an impulse to make such a clarification, you have a problem with your essay.)
Personal statements should highlight your voice, giving the reader access to your personal experiences, thoughts, and beliefs. Think hard about starting your personal statement with a quotation from another source. What specifically will that quotation achieve that cannot be achieved by your own text, your own voice? If you decide that you really do need to start with a quotation, be sure to make clear the quotation's relevance to your own life ... and to make this relevance clear quickly.
Finally, expressing personal beliefs does not mean expressing potentially offensive, controversial opinions that seem to take the discussion off onto a tangent. You will want to avoid offending the members of the admissions committee.