Owen H., Oakwood High School
Smile
We live incredibly complex lives. Everyday we make hundreds of decisions and go through countless situations. Some positive, some negative. And as humans we learn how to deal with these situations, and make them positive for everyone. A skill that I have learned from my experiences is the ability to diffuse arguments. This ability plays a large role in my life, and I wouldn’t be the same person without it.
Over the summer one of my friends wasn’t acting like himself. Instead of being the kind person that we knew him as, he turned toxic. Slinging out insults left and right, acting angry all the time. It was weird because out of the blue he was acting completely different. At first I was angry and his insults actually hurt. I tried to just ignore him, but I was slowly losing confidence that before had been second nature. I didn’t know what to do so I tried to fight fire with fire. I started acting angry and insulting him right back. I hated myself for it but I didn’t know what else to do. And now just because of one person''s problems, everyone changed.
It went on like this for a long time. Until one day a huge argument broke out that ended with him storming away in tears. The event was so eye opening that we all just stood there on the sidewalk. No one said a word. It was after that moment that we all realized something needed to change. From then on I made a promise to myself to be as nice and as positive as I could. I finally understood that my friend wasn’t mad at any of us, he was mad at himself.
The next day I went to see my friend. And said Sorry. Sorry that things ended up this way. I never wanted our friendship to be like this. I hope we can move forward to a positive future. If we lived in a perfect world he would have broken down right then and there and apologized. But, he just stood there.
The next time I saw him was the very next morning. We were at the park playing basketball with a big group of friends. I thought he was a lost cause, but there was something different about him. He was smiling. I hadn’t seen that look on his face in so long that it came as a shock. I felt like a proud father looking down at my son. My friend was finally himself.
My big takeaway from this experience is that no one wants to be angry or mean. They are mean because they wish they weren’t angry. So be nice to people, and show them that they can be nice back. You can’t control others, but you can control yourself. So smile.
