Significant Learnin' (Assignment #1)

The lesson that I learned, I learned over a long time.  I have always been a pretty kind person. I really do take pride in helping people; it makes me feel like a hero. If there is ever an opportunity for me to help someone out, even if it’s something small like picking up something that that person may have dropped, I have always been eager to do it. I just liked being able to be a hero for a little bit. I was in my sophomore year of High School when I learned the lesson that I have deemed important enough to blog about for my HS class. My friend, Rebecca, was a very complex creature. She was like a book, filled with information, but was sealed by super glue, covered with duct tape, locked down with chains, then locked inside a cage, which was then thrown inside safe, buried in a cave on top of a mountain, with the entrance guarded by forty-three dragons. I could see that she was always upset about something, though she rarely showed it. She would often talk to our other female friends about whatever it was, but I was never a part of those conversations. At first, I just let it go, thinking that they were probably just gossiping or something. Soon I became curious and tried to find out what was going on, which was how I discovered that she was talking about whatever it was that was upsetting her. As her friend, I wanted to be there for her and help her through her troubles; I wanted to be a hero. So, I went to her, telling her that she could rely on me as well. This, of course, went nowhere. A few days passed, with no change, so I went to her again, just telling her that I was available. Again, this made no progress. At this point I began to realize that Rebecca didn’t trust me. While this did hurt, it also fueled me to get her to trust me. So, being as stupid as I was, what did I do? I kept pushing. I kept trying to get her to confide in me so that I could understand her and then help her.  I tried being as nice as possible, I tried being friendly and I gave her a lot of compliments. As it turns out, she didn’t like compliments, which made absolutely no sense. Every time I told her I liked her hair or her shoes, she would just glare at me. It was the most confusing thing in the entire world, and I wanted nothing more than to understand it. Eventually she started avoiding me altogether, and I still didn’t get the hint. I wasn’t a very smart sophomore. I asked her why she didn’t trust me, why she wouldn’t talk to me, when all I was trying to do was help. She never gave me an answer, but instead, she told me that she just didn’t trust me. Let’s just say that after that, she started flat-out hating me. After wallowing in defeat and self-loathing for pushing away my friend, I suddenly learned exactly why my advances didn’t work. The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. It’s a pretty basic lesson, but I learned that some people just don’t want to be saved. There are some things that people have to just deal with on their own. Not only that, but I also learned that it is very, very important NOT TO PUSH PEOPLE. If someone doesn’t want to do something, even if it’s something as simple as talking, then you don’t try to make them do it. Ever. Everyone has free will, and it must be respected. People are free to deny a helping hand. Above all, I learned that I can’t save everyone.