My significant change - Essay Example

Narrative Essay Write a narrative essay about experience in your life that had a significant effect on you or changed your views in some important way Life is not a bed of roses for most of the middle class people of our society who are not born with a silver spoon. But for the already born Croesus’s, when things turn upside down it is no less than like a catastrophe for them. This is the narrative of the experience of my friend’s father’s paralysis attack and how it transformed his life both negatively and positively and contributed toward his perspective and philosophy of life.

It is the story of his family’s sudden change in fortune which transformed his life of luxury to that one of constant struggle and hardship. Sixteen years ago, it was one fine Friday of summer, encapsulated with seasonal monsoon rains. His father left for work with a promise that he would take them to their private farmhouse to spend the weekend. His mother, a young eastern wife, got busy in the preparation for the evening and he and his other two sisters and brother were counting the minutes in extreme excitement.

Life could not have been better, when in sudden shift of fate everything toppled. By noon, their car driver arrived home and requested his mother to accompany him to the hospital. The young lady was shaken on this occurrence but prepared herself for something very distressing to come forth. On reaching the hospital, she was informed that her husband had a severe brain hemorrhage and 80% of his body had been affected by the attack. Keeping the deteriorating condition into consideration, she was further informed to wait for few more hours and take the dead body along.

This news was no less than a cataclysm for the entire family and especially for my friend’s mother. The responsibility of four children and another child, to be born in few months, came onto her weak shoulders. Her husband, even though, miraculously sustained the attack, had 80% of his body paralyzed. With the foundation shaken to the core and life completely transformed, their family was initially supported financially by the company, but later the company’s facilities and aid began to diminish to the point where only promise, that he will be given the same post in case he resumed office, was left as only provision.

Subsequently, they were forced to leave the house too which again was the property of the company. They, with their disabled father and crestfallen mother were shifted to their uncle’s place. However, biased and unfair treatment that they faced there was a severe blow to their self respect and his mother decided that it was time for her to take a strong step. She collected the little finance left in her husband’s account and with the help of their old milk-man; bought an economical place in a comparatively underprivileged area of the town.

My friend’s mother, who once used to be a delicate and a very shy person and who had a life of luxury and amenities till now, demonstrated extreme courage and endurance. This tragedy brought an aspect of her personality which she herself didn’t know ever existed. She tackled and dealt with the situation with her head up high and never let her face to be ashen. Together, with family’s help, she started taking little orders of candle-making. The young broods, who once enjoyed the lavish living, were also handling a small poultry farm.

Their family who would never travel without a driver was commuting today in private buses. The life of their family changed completely from heaven to hades. I have taken a lesson from their story to struggle, be prepared for incidents and be sincere to the family. This story which is a test of time, display of infinite courage of their mother and helplessness of their father and a constant feeling of depravation has shaped up my friend’s current perspective towards life. This life ideology and philosophy would have been very different if I wouldn’t have known about this tragedy.

They, in a sudden shift of fate lost all their wealth, ego, social status and bright future prospect. Working head and toes for every morsel and thinking of past leisure as a passed sweet dream, He and his sibling were grown up with strong feeling of depravation. It was such a sudden transformation that he, completely crestfallen and dejected, used to think and wish that this misery and destitution is some sort of a nightmare which would soon be over. However, despite being grown up in financial distress and traumatized mental state, he feels today that the storm that he weathered at such tender age and difficulties he faced have added tremendous value to his personality.

The lessons and values that I learned through this experience of my friend, molded me into more responsible and better person topped with strong traits of patience, sacrifice and hard work. In addition, when I compare my family to my relatives and cousins, I believe and feel that we as a family form strong cohesive bond with strong value for the family and traditional norms. I personally believe that this seemingly stressful ordeal of my friend shielded me from random superficiality of life and provided me long term and sustainable deeper calm.