“A Perfect Family”
There once was an extremely rich family that seemed almost perfect. The father was an established businessman who was loved by his colleagues and higher ups, the mother was elegant and beautiful, the daughter was popular among her peers and was class president, and the son was extremely academically gifted and sports minded. That was on the outside though. On the inside, the family was a sad, disconnected family who barely spoke to each other as they were always so busy. One day the father and mother decided it would be best to go on a trip together since they hadn’t spent much time together for a while. Throughout the trip they had constant arguing and bickering as they had grown very far apart. But. Eventually the family began to reconcile with each other and repair what was perfect on the outside but broken on the inside. By the end of the trip they had become what they once were and got what they wanted back. Not a perfect family, but a happy one.
“Gone like the wind”
I’ve always had trouble letting go. Whether it be of toys, of belongings, or even bad habits. One thing however that I have always had trouble with letting go was friends. It all started with Joseph Martinez in 2nd grade. I didn’t have any friends back then and I’m proud to say he was my first friend. Here’s the story of how he came just as quick as he had gone.
“Hey” Joseph had said with a bright smile on his face. “Wanna go and play on the monkey bars with me?”
He said as I was digging in the sandbox. “Um I don’t know…” I said with a frown like a cloud over my face
“How come? It’s more fun than digging sand!” He said with a chuckle and a grin like a cheshire cat
“I’ve never been on the monkey bars.” I said quietly and a bit ashamed
“Well I’ll show you!”
We then spent the entirety of recess of me practicing and learning how to use the monkey bars with Joseph showing me the ropes.
This would continue on for the week until it became a routine and I enjoyed playing with Joseph and knowing that every recess I would go to the monkey bars and he would be there.
On Friday of that week he had told me that he was moving to another school. I didn’t understand at the time why so I didn’t know how to respond. So I didn’t.
The next monday he was gone. Gone like the wind.
“A Message to my Mom”
I was always a naive little kid. I never knew why my mom did so many things that seemed tedious and meaningless. She was always tough on me and strict on things like grades or sports. As I grew a bit older I eventually became accustomed to it and thought it was things I had to do. The things she would do would be things like cleaning my room when I wasn’t home, having a nice, warm, fresh made breakfast ready for me when I wake up, and she would randomly hug me regardless if I needed it or not. Of course, I appreciated it but I never really understood why. She never told me why either, she just did it with a solid expression on her face. When I was 27 she passed away. At this time I had just started a business, married, and wanted to start a family soon. I didn’t have time to mourn or go to the funeral since I lived states away. It wasn’t till I started making my family fresh breakfast, cleaning their rooms when they were gone, and always complimenting and telling them how much I loved them that I realized why my mom had done it. It was the little things that changed my life that I now do to my own family. I look back now and thank my mother. For everything. She was the one person that completely changed my life.
“The Man Across the Street”
As a boy scout, I vowed to always be friendly, helpful, and a positive scout for as long as I served. I really wanted to fulfill this vow but there was one obstacle that kept me from doing so. The scary man across the street. Every day he would throw a bag that was so big in the garbage bin that me and my fellow scouts rumored it was a dead body. One day during scouts we had been tasked to sell cookies to people in our neighborhood. I was ecstatic as I believed I was a great scout salesman, the day went by quickly as I sold more and more cookies until I finally came to the house of the man across the street. I stared the house up and down as I slowly approached the house. Quivering and afraid, I slowly knocked on the door. The door swung open. What happened next I will never forget.
“Hello?” Said the man in a scruff and raw voice. He looked left and right searching for whoever dared to knock on his door.
“E-e-excuse me sir.” I said looking up as he was at least twice my size.
The man finally looked down and spotted me. “Oh. Hello. What brings you here?” He said with his voice softening.
I was caught by surprise and remained silent.
The man, confused as he was sure I had heard him, asked again. “What brings you here?”
I finally had enough nerve to respond. “W-w-would you like to buy some cookies to support the spectacular scouts association?”
The man slowly walked out of the door and moved his face closer to mine. I started to quake in my shoes as I had never been so scared in my life.
He slowly put his right hand into his pocket and I was prepared to run faster than the world record sprinter.
“Here.” The man pulled out a $20 from his wallet out of his pocket and asked just for a single box of cookies.
“You can keep the change.” The man smiled and told me he was happy I had asked as no one visits him often ever since his relatives had passed.
Immediately I felt guilt and I felt like my vow had been broken. As I walked down his porch I had a new perspective of people I did not know.
I then promised myself never again will I be afraid of unknown things.
“The Door that Never Opened”
There was a door in my house. For as long as I could remember it was there. No one opened it. No one came out of it. I don’t know why it was there. But it was there, it was always there. It wasn’t until it was gone that I cared. Why did I care? Why was it so important to me whether the door was there or not? I didn’t even know what was behind that door.
“Hey mom. What happened to that door we had right at the side of the staircase?” I asked as I was having coffee with my mom one early morning.
“Oh we got rid of it a while after you moved out.” She said as she chuckled a bit.
“How come?” I asked surprised and bit frustrated
“Oh you know, we never used or needed that door anyway. It was only there for looks.” My mom said
“Hey, I never got to ask when I was young but what was even behind that door?” I asked
“Oh you don’t remember?” She asked puzzled
“What do you mean? I never used that room.” I said
“You used to play in that room all day when you were smaller. It was an old storage room we had under the stairs.” She said
“Oh…” I said quietly under my breath. We stopped talking about the room after that. I don’t remember what we talked about after we stopped talking about the room. I just stared into my coffee coming to terms on why I really did care about the room behind that door.
“A Speech to be Heard”
I always hated my childhood. I resented it. If I had a choice I would never make anyone go through my childhood. I’m a big time speaker now and I have the opportunity everyday to change people’s life so they won’t go through what I went through. But at the same time I’m a little grateful for all the things that happened to me. Sure at the time it was terrible, but I look back at it now as it being necessary for me becoming me. I think without all the events that happened to me I couldn’t be the somebody that I am today. A somebody that could change other people. Instead of being brought down I could reach out to people through my speeches and bring others up. My first speech went like this.
“Is this thing on?” I said as I touched the microphone hoping not to embarrass myself.
The microphone let out a loud screech noise as it started to work.
The audience cringed back as I adjusted the microphone to stop making the noise.
“Sorry about that…” I said as the audience was silent.
I took a deep breath and remembered what My message was and what I was going to say.
“I know you guys have heard this before but… What if I told you that every single one of you IS truly somebody.” And that was the start of my career in motivational speaking.
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