A Story from the Life - Essay Example

When I was fifteen years old my family and I moved from our old town into a new area and I began at a new school. When I began at the school I struggled to meet new people and find my way within the school structure. I was convinced that there was something wrong with me and that I had trouble meeting people because I was so extremely different that I would never be able to assimilate. Every day at 11:30 I would get a feeling of dread in my stomach knowing that I would soon have to go to lunch and amble awkwardly around, pretending that I actually had a group of people to eat with, and then subtly sit down by myself at a table outside, eating, and wishing that the next bell would just ring so I could slink away to Math class. Even the quadratic formula would beat this.

            One day as I was sitting there, observing people, I noticed two guys walking quickly away from the cafeteria, looking around like they were going to escape from prison or something, and then quickly disappear into the woods. I had no idea where they had gone but I was curious. The next day at lunch I looked for them again. It seems like they saw me looking, and one of them approached me. We had a brief conversation and he told me that they had been hanging out in the woods behind the school to skip class. He asked me if I wanted to join them. While it was out of character for me to skip class a number of things went through my mind. I had experienced a difficult time making friends at the new school and I believed that skipping classes with these individuals might help develop a friendship with them. On a deeper level, I also had begun to become frustrated at my current situation and school environment. Not being able to fit into the school and meet people I had begun to neglect my studies and feel that school was not important. I had started to fail to see the ways that school would contribute to my long-term benefit. With these thoughts in mind, I entered the woods scaled the fence surrounding the school, and skipped class with the two people I had just met.   

            As we made our way back towards the school and climbed the fence we had originally gone over, I glanced in front of me and the school’s resource officer was standing there watching us. He later claimed that he had followed us since the moment we entered the woods. I thought we would only get in trouble for skipping, but after we had climbed the fence we had entered private property and the owner had called the school complaining. The officer arrested us for trespassing. I sat in the front office for a long time, outside and watched the other students walk through. Eventually, we went to see the school resource officer. It was a terrifying experience as I had never been in serious trouble before. The others actually stuck up for me and one of them even said that it wasn’t my idea and that they convinced me to do it. It didn’t make much difference though, we were all caught together and that was what mattered. Since I had no prior problems in school I only received community service and a two-day suspension. The two guys I went with were expelled. They had to transfer to another school and I haven’t heard from them since.

            As I sat in the lobby of the discipline office I learned that my frustration with life wouldn’t be overcome with stupid rebellious activities and that I needed to accept personal responsibility for my own life and stop looking to others to give it meaning and save me from frustration. From then on I learned and understood that life is what you make it. When considering stories such as this that shaped my personal development I learned that the story we tell ourselves is constantly changed in ways that coincide with recent developments in our lives. However, there was something about this instance that not only shifted my perceptions towards a different, or ‘better’ path but also removed so many of the elements of my past life. It was this experience that expanded my horizons.