A scared panda clings to a police officer’s leg after an earthquake hits China.
The Story of Kyle
One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, “Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.”
I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on. As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up, and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes.
My heart went out to him. So I jogged over to him, and as he crawled around looking for his glasses, I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, “Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives.” He looked at me and said, “Hey thanks!” There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.
I helped him pick up his books and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before, but we talked all the way home, and I carried his books.
He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play football on Saturday with me and my friends. He said yes.
We hung out all weekend, and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him. And my friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, “Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!” He just laughed and handed me half the books.
Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors, we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football scholarship.
Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn’t me having to get up there and speak.
On graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than me and all the girls loved him! Boy, sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech, so I smacked him on the back and said, “Hey, big guy, you’ll be great!” He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. “Thanks,” he said.
As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began. “Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach — but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story.” I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his mom wouldn’t have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. “Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.”
I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize its depth.
Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture, you can change a person’s life.(By: Tina Azarcon Ankerman)
I suck…
Nothing is going my way right now…
- NO EE topic
- Can’t start training in the next week or two because of a medial-tibia stress syndrome (Thank God the xray came back OK, no stress fracture)
- Prelims were disastrous
- Chem results are on a downward spiral and so is Bio
- Grade 8 piano exam is threatening to engulf me
- No restricted for me till I don’t know when
- Best friend/sister/husband/CTM leaving
There are no words for this……AH
When your BEST FRIEND starts dating…
- You look at her boyfriend like:
- Break her heart and I’ll break your face.
Reality
Only 1 day left….less than 24 hours…
Gone were the days when we fantasised, no you actually, about leaving here and going away…Now, the reality is clear, it is difficult to come to terms with you leaving here, moving to a brand new country. I do not know why this has affected me so much…perhaps because our highly ambiguous relationship?! Nevertheless, I hope that both you and I will embrace this change!
As cliched as it sounds, I want to tear up once again…enjoy and join the OXFORD BADMINTON CLUB :P
Nina & Ian Backstage at the 2011 Emmy Awards
The most unexpected happens at the most unexpected time…
Second round bio olympiad :) Top 9th decile, top 70 in NZ :)
Just Another Day →
No, this isn’t a scenario about Justin Bieber. But it wouldn’t kill you to read it in honor of today.
“Sweetie you’re late! Wake up! Get ready!” My mother abruptly shook my shoulders. I groaned and put my pillow over my head.
“Mom go away!” I yelled through the pillow.
“Just hurry up sweetheart. You have 10 minutes until we leave!”
After I heard my door shut I slowly removed the pillow from my face and sighed. Just another day at my boring school. I hopped out of bed and quickly washed my face. I threw on some cropped sweats, a v-neck, and a hoodie. It looked quite cold out. I threw my hair into a messy bun and put some mascara on. After brushing my teeth I grabbed my bookbag and phone then ran out of my room.
“I’m ready!” I exclaimed when I reached the kitchen where my mother was gathering her things for work.
“Okay let’s go! I have a very busy day today so I might be 10 or 15 minutes late to pick you up from school” She explained as we made our way down the parking structure of our apartment building.
After about 20 minutes of driving through your average New York City traffic, we finally arrived at my school.
“You’re late honey! Hurry up to class!” My mother said as she pulled up to the drop off zone.
“Mom I’m already late, I don’t need to hurry anymore. Jeez.” I answered back, annoyed.
“I just don’t want you to miss too much! I love you, I’ll see you after school. Have a nice day!” She shouted kindly as I climbed out of our car.
“Yeah, yeah” I mumbled as I shut the door.
It’s just another day.
~
I sunk lower in my chair and tapped my pencil against my desk. 3 minutes until English. I liked English class. It was the only class I had with all my friends. I sighed and looked around the class. Half of the people were sleeping through my teacher’s lecture. The other half looked just like me, ready to get out of here. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I looked at the teacher to make sure they weren’t looking and pulled out my phone. My mom was calling. Why was she calling? She knows I can’t use my phone during school hours. I pushed my phone back into my pocket. Oh well, it can wait.
The bell rang and I sprung out of my seat. I threw my bookbag over my shoulder and made my way out the door. Everyone in the hallways were running around frantically. I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion and made my way to English. I was just about to set foot in the door when I heard the loud speakers go off.
“Attention all students and teachers. Please meet at your 4th period evacuation spots. This is not a drill. Repeat, meet at your 4th period evacuation spots. This is not a drill.”
What was going on? I saw my best friend a few feet from the door with tears in her eyes.
“What’s going on?” I asked when I reached her.
“M-my father. He was in the building” She collapsed in my arms and started bawling.
“What are you talking about? What building? What’s going on!” Now I was extremely worried.
“The Twin Towers, a plane crashed into them!” She said and looked up at me.
My heart stopped beating.
My mother.
I quickly pulled out my phone and saw her missed call and a voicemail. I immediately felt tears form in my eyes. This can’t be happening. She had to be safe. She’s all I have.
I quickly dialed my voicemail and pressed my phone to the ear.
“One new message. Press 1 to listen” The automated voice said. I pressed one and pressed my phone back to my ear. I took a shaky breath and heard my mother’s beautiful voice fill my ears.
“Honey, listen to me please. I know you can’t answer because you’re at school, but please know that I love you baby. I love you with everything I have. Please take care of yourself. I lo-” I heard a scream and the phone disconnected.
I slowly lowered my phone from my ear and looked at my best friend. She was leaning against the wall next to us and crying. I looked at her with tears streaming down my face and we both hugged each other at the same time.
I didn’t even say I loved her this morning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a scenario I wrote in honor of 9/11. Many lives were lost on this day and it kills me just thinking about it. God bless those who passed, those who lost loved ones, and whoever else who were affected. This is also a scenario to raise awareness that any moment could be your last. Life is a precious thing, please treat it with respect. Treat everybody and everything with respect. You never know when your life can be taken away. These people went to work, just expecting it to be another day. They didn’t even make it to the end of the day.
Just over 1 months…:(
Time to let go…I wrote this many weeks ago, it has been sitting in my private box for ages. Finally, today, I have conjured up the courage to publish this. I do not wish to state names, but she, who I wrote this for, will know that it is for her :)
Those bus rides seem like they have never been, yet simultaneously they seem like yesterday. Almost 6 years of knowing you, I have not regretted a single second. Change has happened so quickly, that I have not had time to savor the past. I find this time to write because I miss you, knowing that in the approximate future, you will be leaving me once more. It is hard, you are my best friend. One that I could speak anything too. I entrust that fate, that has brought us together once, will bring us together again.These memories are and will always be engraved inside my heart, the reminisces, for you are an absolutely amazing person <3.
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