Humility Cure

When I was around the age of 12. I was a realy arrogant and stubborn kid. some may argue that those two are common traits among young, pre-teens. Nevertheless, I was overly arrogant to the point where I would put others down to boost my self esteem.

I have always had a good way with words, and if to this you add how confrontational I was when I was younger, it's a recepe for disaster.

I was an arrogant kid, that's true. However, I was still an emotional kid who valued his relationships above anything. It was on March of my 8th grade year. I was finally coming back to school after I had a really bad injury in my adductor ligament. It was a really rough time for me and I was happy that I got to see my friends again, especially Gabriel, who i considered my best friend at the time. It was a cool, windy morning and I was wearing my best attire for 'my great comeback'. I walked in and people started greeting me, hugging and cheering, and, obviously asking me about my time away. I attended the crowd for a little bit and then I headed to class. I was a little offset because usually the first person I say everyday was Gabriel, but not this day. Not today.

I arrived at literature class, which was my first period of class that day, and I sat on my old seat, which was in terrible condition due to the vandals that we used to call 'upper classmen'. The teacher took attendance and some noise arose when my name was reached. I laughed and made some remarks and then, after we settled down, the teacher proceeded to continue.

The calls went by quickly, but I was still feeling weird. Where was he? The following two classes were a copy-and-paste of the first period, with the cheering after my name and my excitement for being back in class. Nothing new, and I was growing anxious now.

During recession, I set off to find Gabriel, and after a few weird stares from older girls and some jokes thrown by older boys, I found him hanging out at the soccer court. I approached him with a loud call and a big hug, as I hung myself from his back. He greeted me and laughed, but his face was dark, covered with sorrow and negativity. I realized it, but when I was about to ask, someone came calling at me to play soccer with them, an offer I was not going to refuse after nine months of injury. I took off and looked back to wish farewells to my 'bestie', but his back was facing me so I kept it.

The rest of the day was uneventful for the most part, and I just cruised along as any other day. That was until the bell that signaled the end of the school day rang. I hurried to my locker to store my books and a calculator I found laying on the ground (No, I didn't steal it. Yes, I gave it back when I found out who's it was). Once I took care of that, I dashed through the hallway to avoid the overcrowding of it and reached the bottom playground, where I would wait for 30 minutes before I got picked up from school and taken home.

I got there and laid my backpack on the ground, pulled out my phone and started playing a game I used to play with Gabriel all the time. After around 5 minutes, he came to the playground too, I saw him, and I called him to come and join me. He came and sat by my side. At this point I had not thought a lot about why he had been acting so cold with me today. That was until I catched a glipse of his face, staring down at his phone. It was empty, nebulous and numb. I got scared by this point and when I finally built up the courage to do so, I asked him what was wrong.

At first he tried to convince me that everything was alright, that he was fine and that he had just had a long day. That didn't last though. Eventually, he opened up. He confessed that he did not want to deal with me anymore, that he was tired of my selfish, machiavellic (not in these words), arrogant and stoic nature. He said that he was tired of playing with me because everytime we played I would always pick the best toys or characters and I would never ask him what he wanted. He ranted about me not being there for him when he needed a friend (which was the only complaint that he had which I thought was complete BS. I was there with him everytime a girl rejected him, and whenever he wanted to make a change in his life, like moving in with his dad, I was there with him and supported him). He then turned more aggressive and started turning it into something personal. I asked if everything we had lived until then was just a joke for him, and he replied that he had so little good memories that he doesn;t remember most of it. That hurt.

I was devastated. He had left after making his final point and I was left there, crying about all that had happened. I didn't have time to asssimilate the whole event, I was still processing it all, but it didn't take me long to realize that what Gabriel and I once were was now burried in the murky depths of the past.

Looking back at this wholes story, I realized many flaws that I had, and I was able to better myslef. Morevover, I have been able to keep a friendly relationship with Gabriel for the rest of my life, even standing up for him in some occassions (he did it for me too). The point that I'm trying to make with this story is that, sometimes, it takes losing something of great importance in order to change for the better. I hold no ressentment for Gabriel, and although I would have loved to share more of my life with him, I thank him for allowing me to change and become who I am today. I'm not the man I aspire to be, by far. But I feel that I took a step in the right direction after our fallout.