Happy weekend people! Welcome to my first post in the Weekend Community.
We all had unpleasant, painful of very embarrassing moments we faced as kids and wish we can forget. I had a lot of these moments myself and today I will be sharing one of them with you.
Back in primary school, there was this small gate leading in and out of the school premises that was permanently closed. I don't know why that particular gate was closed but it was so out of function that it became a site where builders around the school would dump different building rocks. Rocks were being dumped by the gate for years until it became quite the heap.
When I was about 6 years old, some of my friend and I were playing around the rocks during PE when a teacher asked us to stop. In her words, "There was a boy who was playing over there last year and ended up not being able to eat properly for weeks". I really didn't know what she meant at the time. Honestly, I thought she was just a mean old lady that didn't want us to have fun. Years later I understood what the lady was trying to say but it was already too late.
Three years later when I was 9, the pile of rocks had grown at that same spot. As a kid, I was pretty smart and athletic too. I also had a big ego and I wanted to be the best in everything.
I like to think that I was one of the fastest runners in my set. I used to challenge other boys and win most times. One day, word started to spread that there was this kid that thought he was faster than me. For me, it was the audacity of this kid. I mean, how dare he even think such a thing. I was going to teach this boy a lesson in front of everyone.
During recess, I was ready to race this kid. For some reason, the teacher of the last class warned us not to go by those rocks. Maybe he had a premonition but I didn't listen. We would have picked some other place around the school to have our race but we just happened to pick a path with the closed gate as our finish line. Things were about to get real!
It was a little past noon that day. The weather was just right. I think my crush was standing by the sidelines watching too. Me and the kid, Michael, took our positions ready to race.
On your mark, get set, Go!
Boom! We were off. I could hear the wind gushing through my ears as we pushed forward. Michael was pretty fast. As we were close to the finish line, we were neck-and-neck. At that moment, it was like a movie to me. I started to see things in slow motion. I had to win this race so I thought to myself, "If I jump right now, I'll finish first". And so that's what I did.
I jumped but I didn't land properly. I tripped on the heap of rocks, hit my head on the gate and crashed back at the rocks with my chin. Did I cry? No, not yet. I couldn't let my crush see me cry so I stood up, dusted myself and started to walk back to class. I stopped in the hallway when I noticed blood dripping down by face. I was in shock and so I really didn't feel much pain. However, because of the blood, man I just started to cry. The teacher that had just warned us minutes ago rushed to me and basically said "I told you so". After that, I really don't know what happened. I don't know if I blacked out or if my brain shut out those memories. All I know is that years later, there is a scar there.
The scar was a lot bigger once. I don't have a lot in the scars department. Maybe it's nature trying to preserve a rare gem I guess.
Over 11 years after the incident, I can still feel slight pains just by rubbing on the scar. Apart from that, I don't have any problems whatsoever. I'm still the smartest guy I know, maybe.
Moral of the story;
If someone says they're better than you, just ignore them. In this race of life, you are your only competition. Improve not to surpass others but to be a better version of yourself.
I used to be insecure of my scar when it was bigger. The whole situation was sad for me but look on the bright side, at least I won the race in the end. I'm pretty sure my crush was proud ;).
