Life is like a roller coaster ride with several ups and downs, bad and good incidents, and happy and sad phases. Though, everything that happens brings some kind of lesson or guidance for you. Learning from bad experiences and showing gratitude in happy times is important. Verily, it depends on you how you take every situation and make it work despite difficulties and hardships. Every individual goes through such incidents that either break them or make them a better and stronger version of themselves.
I have gone through events that stand out in my life and helped me in becoming a better and stronger person. One of these has been very impactful for me and changed me from who I was to who I am today. I am not sure whether you will find anything spectacular in my story, but for me, it was a very challenging event that guided me through my faults. It is about my school days. I belong to a family that has quite stable finances. I did have all the facilities and access to every privilege that a child would want to have in his schooling period. This thing was enough to bring some attitude to me. I had friends that belonged to my social status. I was never sympathetic towards others, and neither did I feel any shame when I disrespected someone who was not like me.
I was in sixth grade, and I had two best friends at that time, Liza and Terra. We used to take classes together, have lunch together, and go out together. One day we met with a poor girl studying at our school. Her name was Sara. She was having a problem with finances and was not able to bring lunch from home, thus having to rely on school-free meals. When she once wanted to share a table with us during lunch, we made really bad comments about her address. I taunted her about her dirty clothes and made her listen to the fancy lunches that we would bring to school. I was playing a materialistic role here and I embarrassed her and her family for being so poor. This made her cry but I did not feel bad for her. Another day, I found her shopping at a cheap thrift store. I again made fun of her that she has to wear someone else’s clothes due to her abject poverty.
This scenario continued for days. One day when I saw her waiting for the bus at a bus stop, I went to her and told her about how my mother picked me up in the luxurious car and how we used to shop at branded stores. My tone was really bad that day and it made her cry again. My mother watched all this and scolded me in front of her reiterating that it is not the right way to treat others. My mother then planned to teach me a lesson. I was not allowed to spend time in any entertainment or luxury activities.
From the next day, I did not have the food that I used to eat. When I tried to sit with my friends, they did not allow me and made fun of me. I was devastated at that moment. After school, my mother did not pick me up and I had to take a bus. My friends would pass by and tease me and I felt profoundly humiliated. I did not have enough money and I had to shop in a thrift store. After a while, I began to realize how it feels to get mocked and pushed around for not having much. Sara was the only one who sat with me at the table. I was astonished, asking myself repeatedly why she is being nice to me. She said she understands what I am going through as she found herself in the same boat. I apologized to her at that very moment and we became friends.
This incident made me realize that I was so wrong. I immediately had come to the realization that everyone should be sympathetic toward others. We should never make fun of others. Hence, there was a big lesson in that event, it taught me that I need to be tolerant.