So confident
This story is amazing to me because the details have stuck with me for so many years. It has stuck with me because it makes up so much of who I am now.
When I was about 10, I had a “friend” who we will call Mika. He was a friend, now that I think of it, but friends were different at that age. In fact, I called him my enemy. He was the closest thing to a bully my tiny school had at the time. So I blamed things on him. I accused him of being gay like it was a bad thing, and did all those hurtful things young boys do to one another.
And he didn’t know what to say.
So he responded verbally. He’d punch me, wrestle me, pinch me, poke me. He was a big guy for 10, and sometimes he’d even try to squash me!
I am sure he felt hurt by my words, and at some point, a massive serious apology is necessary. But that’s not the point of this story…
One day, Mika and I went with my father to a place on Maui called “Twin Falls”. Twin falls is a very special place, with a path that runs through a feild, and along the path, two big waterfalls.
You can walk further along the path to get to the top of the biggest waterfall. And that’s where we went.
As I peeked over the edge, watching the water gushing down, Mika’s voice came from behind me: “Are you gonna jump?”
Heh. Was I gonna jump? Um. No. I was not a risk-taking kid by any means. I liked my life and my body far too much to risk it with a stupid jump. No…Mika…I was not going to jump!
Of course everyone else was jumping. Kids my age and older, all landing in the water with their skulls still together, coming up out of the water talking about how nice and how fun it was.
Mika was gonna jump.
If this were a dramatic “sandlot“esque story Mika would have jumped and cracked his head open, or died. But that’s not what happened at all. So you can stop worrying (or rubbing your wrists together if you like those kinda movies).
“Come oooon! You gotta jump!” Mika yelled to me over the roar of the running water.
I considered it for a moment. Truly, genuinely considered it. And then I shook my head.
“No way, no how!” I shouted back. I was a cheeky kid, who spoke like I was in a 50′s musical apparently.
“Chicken!” Mika yelled back.
Chicken? Me? Well gosh, I thought. That’s quite an accusation. I guess I am a bit of a chicken if I don’t want to jump off of this cliff like you do Mika.
So I put my wrists against my side, and started acting like a chicken.
“Bak bak!” I yelled, in what I thought was a good rendition of a chicken.
I kept going like that for twenty seconds or so, until Mika showed visible signs of frustration. Whaaaaat? His bullying tactics weren’t working? I could see the begining of his world and techniques falling apart before his eyes.
And then he jumped.
That’s pretty much the end of my story. If it had a moral, I guess it would be “be yourself and you can stand up to bullys” which sounds way too much like an after school special (of which I have never actually seen, just heard about from the previous generation) to use as a post title.
So take from it what you will!
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