Every child is prepared with knowledge to help them solve problems they will inevitably face in life. These poblems might be economical, social, or another topic altogether. Sometimes in life, the greatest challenges we face are with ourselves. I definitely learned this lesson with the help of a former friend. He is now living a very different lifestyle but he was the one who made me realize what kind of life I wanted to live.
I used to be a decent student in school. I liked playing basketball and playing the piano. I danced many days after school and had a few friends I could rely upon. I had a good life, but I did not realize it at the time.
I started making new friends after a while. Different friends. Ones that were daring and exciting to be with. I also began to lose contact with my old friends because we just did not see eachother another. But I did not mind, my new friends were interesting to talk to. They showed me new ideas and had different opinions on everyday life. This is where I met my friend, the one who helped me learn a valuable lesson.
School was getting harder and more difficult to do well in. My parents put pressure on me and had high expectations for my future and academic career. I quit dancing and stopped playing the piano. Stress became part of my daily life. I found I was not the only person suffering. My friend began running away from home some nights, and often did not show up at school. When he did come I noticed he often smelled of unwashed clothing and smoke. I never asked him any details about where he went, and he never told me. But I was not bothered by this. We always had other topics to discuss, like school policies, and our lives at home. I was his confidant and he was mine. I eventually started to spend more and more time with him. I did not know at the time, but that was the beginning of a life changing event.
One day, my friend asked me to meet him, not unusual for a Saturday afternnoon. He took me to a part of the city I had never been to before. The sky was cloudy, but the soft, clean breeze whisked the clouds past, revealing the warmth of the sun.
We walked on, past shops and restaurants, every place that beckoned us to stop. Before long, the sun was shrinking back while a few last lucky ligh rays escaped. A cry before the battle was lost.
The park we then stepped in to was lush and dense with trees that introduced darkness as though light was not part of this world. Though the park was tranquil, I did not feel secure. My friend seemed unaware of the sudden change in atmosphere, and kept walking. The air seemed stagnant and thick, now that the breeze had diminished.
We finally arrived at a bit of a clearing in the park. We were far from the noise of cars and buses, but even the birds were not to be heard. A large van with blacked out windows rolled up to the clearing, startling me. I looked at my friend questioningly, but he stared straight ahead at the van. After a few long minutes, my friend slowly approached the van. A strange musty smell wafted over to me when the van door opened. I never saw who the owner of the van was, but my mouth went dry when I saw my friend pass the driver money for an envelope.
I felt frozen in place and did not know what to think. A thousand thoughts ran through my head at once. I saw my friend look at me and move his lips. All I heard was the loud thumping of my heart and the pounding of my head. There was another wailing noise in the distance. I turned around and saw a figure with a dog holding a cellphone. There was the noise again. My body felt numb. The seconds seemed to slowly slither by, hissing as they went. The van roared away and I did not move. My friend took one glance at me, and ran in the other direction. He knew where he was going but I was lost. I did not know where I was, standing in the park. The wailing sounds grew sharper.
From that event on, I realized who I was and what kind of life I wanted to live. Maybe being an ordinary student who dances and plays piano is fine. I never wanted to do anything against the law. Thanks to my friend, I learned to value my own lifestyle.
But the lesson that the greatest challenges we face are with ourselves is not one that teachers or mentors can prepare a pupil for. I had to learn through experience.
I have lost touch with that firned that helped me. All that thime I was waiting for someone else to hcange my life, to make something happen. But in the end, I lreaned I was the only one who could control what I did, and what I do now. All my success and all my mistakes are only the results of my actions. They are my fault. No parent could have prepared their child to face that challenge.
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