Undergraduate /
Solitude was my only companion - The Hermit ; Personal Information - U Texas [6]
The Hermit
I wasn't a part of the creme de la creme
of the society,and neither was I born into
such a family. Nevertheless, I never had
it as bad as having to beg on the streets
to feed. However, there was always a
void feeling I assumed followed me to
the earth. Feelings of self rejection,
introversion, and hate started to fill me,
even at a young age. The sun never
seemed to shine, and the nights wore a
gloomy look. Solitude was my only
companion.
The more the days went by, the more I
preferred to be alone. Instead of walking
back home with my peers from school, I
opted for taking a simpler, talk -free
motorcycle ride.In school, group works
always frightened me, and led to some of
my worst scores. These acts, at that time,
felt like the right thing to do; little did I
know that they would make me anti-
social,inhumane, not to talk of narcissistic.
Human beings to me felt like trash. I
abhorred talking to people, volunteering,
and helping others. To my parents, I was
lost; to me, that was not the case. Seeing
others less inferior than my 'all powerful'
self, ego skyrocketing, not to talk of the
new bounce in my step just made my the
world seem to revolve around me. I
believed things would always remain the
same but was proved wrong by an
unfortunate incident.
Some weeks into the 11th grade class, I
noticed the absence of my seat mate back
in grade 10 -Mark. Mark was the only
person who could tolerate my egocentric
behavior, and that was what baffled me
about him. Now he was gone. Secretly, I
started making findings about what
happened(not that I cared, or so I kept
lying to myself).It was then the news
broke: Mark had to repeat the grade
because of his poor records. At that
moment, I started to feel pity, which to
me at that time, was somewhat
disgusting. As I got back home, my
conscience began to judge me:"It's your
fault","You knew about his academic
challenge and didn't help him, why?"
These threw me into a world of confusion
and I felt something urging me to
reconsider my stance about other people.
What a moment!
Geared up to prevent something like that
from ever happening again, a few changes
had to be made. The plan was to talk to a
few people each day, maybe try to know
them, but not going too far. So each day,
I would try walking up to someone of my
age group at school or in church,
introduce myself and start a conversation.
Days became weeks and weeks, months.
I couldn't believe my eyes -I actually
enjoyed this. Before you knew it, I
started to make new friends. My
communication skills got better as I
interacted with others and my
misconception, changed. With this
improvements, I joined the school's
senior science club and was even elected
into the school's congress,which was
meant to work like the National Congress
(but just for my school).In the Student
Congress, as it is called, I represented my
class and worked hand in hand with the
school management in the creation of
rules and in voicing the minds of students
to the authorities. This recluse was
actually beginning to open up and accept
responsibilities. My parents and teachers
noticed it, and so did the teens pastor of
my local church. He later gave me the
responsibility of:posting edifying notes on
the notice board, assisting in the
management of the church's Facebook
page, and sending invitations and
reminders to members and guests when
having special programs.
With these convictions that I could
actually make a difference, I started
tutoring some of my classmates for the
forthcoming exams .The experience was
great, and one of the things I noticed was
the 'give and it will be given unto you'
blessing. You see, the more I taught
others, the more knowledge I acquired,
enabling me to excel immensely in my
studies. Now I believe that I could add
value to any institution with this three
principles I learnt: Never give up;be the
change and always try to be better than
the person you were yesterday.
This hermit has learnt this, and I hope
others will too.