you do your thing and I do mine...

The most beautiful thing happened on Thursday in my English class. The essay that was due that day was about reflecting on a time in your life, three people read theirs. One girl wrote about Invisible Children, which was nice and sincere. Another girl wrote a very long paper reflecting on a photograph of her and her mom at her mom's wedding (she was only 18 when she got married). In the photograph, they are looking at each other with somber faces. In the essay the girl went on to say how she doesn't want her mom to leave her, how she knows her new dad will beat both of them (mentally and physically), how she is better off without him and they would have been fine with just the two of them. While reading this she started to cry very hard, and I felt very bad for her that she had to go through this, but at the same time I was happy that she was getting out all of this emotion that she seemed to be keeping in for a very long time. When she finished reading the class was silent, no one knew what to say. Then my teacher started to cry, and a kid from the side of the classroom spoke. This person is the poster boy for the "Goth" community, adorned in all black with hooks and straps; last class he even brought a big stick that he called "the beating stick". All he ever says are such things like "fuck the world, you will all die" or "you will all burn on the stake for your sins of hypocrisy". But anyways, while the teacher and reader were crying he spoke very sincerely and said 'that was really beautiful, I think you should send it to your mom, she should really read it because those are strong and real emotions that you shouldn't keep inside.' Then he said, "I think you need a hug", so he got up in the middle of class and gave this girl a hug! Can you believe it? It was the most beautiful thing I have seen in a very long time. After that took place, a big Mexican kid said 'my mom married another man when I was 13, I went through the exact same thing but I will can't ever forgive her. I am glad that you can though" It amazed me to see this communication unfold in front of my eyes. All these socially drawn lines of status were crossed and erased because real emotion was put on the line. Love is a beautiful thing.

On a side note, I got another "A", this time it was on my paper that turned in two weeks ago (the one about the color "dark blue). Ms. McCurry said, "Jeff: This is a very good piece- your choices result in a very blue mood indeed, elegantly written & suggestive without even telling the reader quite what the situation is (and yet I find that you walk the line between keeping your readers intrigued & ensuring they aren't frustrated quite well)" I do not know what the rest says; sometimes her writing is hard to read. I am very proud of this grade, especially because my essay was shorter than the requirement. Although, that should not be a problem with the essay I just turned in this Thursday, I went 1800 words over the limit. My teacher knew I was worried about it so she emailed saying that it isn't too long due to the fact that I do not write about the same things repeatedly.

On a tangent, I think people should stop drinking. In my experiences it has never furthered anyone in life, expect maybe Jackson Pollock; even he wasn't that good though. I have just never seen the fascination with drinking, but maybe others do, I do not know. It just scares me a lot.