I guess a lot of young people don ’ t really think about how some of the things they do can change their lives in a negative or positive way forever . I didn ’ t think a lot about things I did . I acted like I would get another chance in life . I was wrong about that .
I found out the hard way when my friend took his own life by hanging himself . I used to have a belief that people who committed suicide looked a certain way or acted a certain way . My friend was a normal acting young person . He had plenty of friends , somewhat popular . He had a large , nice family . It still messes with me about what he did .
I do remember when we were young , we tried to act like we had it all together . Even when the truth be told , we were confused and trying to figure out who were and how to fit in . We were going through emotional and physical changes that we didn ’ t want to share with each other . I believe that was truly a mistake that I regret . If only we were honest with each other about our problems and not make fun of each other when someone wanted to talk about personal issues . I believe if we would have made it easy for the group of us that hung out together to talk about life issues , my friend that committed suicide would still be alive .
I guess it goes back to the story when a parent tells a small child not play with fire or touch a hot stove because the child will get hurt . But the little child is very curious to see if their parents are telling them the truth or if they are trying to keep them from having fun . So the child touches the hot stove or plays in the fire and they get hurt . They could have avoided the injury if they would have just listened to the advice of their parents . Instead the child had to find out the hard way .
A lot of people are like that child at times , including me . I didn ’ t want to listen when someone was giving me advice , and it got me into a lot of trouble . It even cost some of my friends their lives . There are a lot of people in prison because they didn ’ t want to listen to someone giving them a warning on not to do something , but they did it anyways .
I just want to say it is okay to listen to others and take advice from older people that are good role models . It may save you from pain or trouble .
I can ’ t go back and do life over , but I want to say to all the young people in the world , “ don ’ t be afraid to talk to someone about your pain or struggles .” There are people who have been right where you are in life , and they have overcome what you are dealing with . It is okay to talk to someone . They can help you . I wish I would have talked to someone when I was younger , maybe I wouldn ’ t be in prison with a 40-year sentence .
As I look back into my past , I notice that my friends and I started doing small careless things , which later turned into bigger issues . The things we started to do for fun later turned into not so fun things that got us into trouble .
For example , I went from my uncle giving me beer to drinking as a small child , to a teenager who got drunk a lot waking up with headaches . The worst part is how I lost a friend in a car crash due to drunk driving . We should have listed to the older people who told us not to be drinking and driving .
I can ’ t go back and do life over , but I want to say to all the young people in the world , “ don ’ t be afraid to talk to someone about your pain or struggles .”
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