Maturing (530 hits)
Category: NoneRating: -1.21 on 15 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by David Federman <David.Federman.at.gmail.com> (View user info) at 2005-06-25 23:20:26 EDT
This was an essay for class so sorry that there are actually paragraphs longer than a few lines. I know how some of you have trouble reading.
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All people mature the same way, by learning lessons the hard way. They start off ignorant and naive, experience a usually painful event, and end up wiser but usually sadder. A paradigm example to illustrate this is one experience Kenny had. He innocently thought doing drugs was all right, experienced a "bad trip," and learned the consequences of drug abuse.
Kenny was an ordinary sixteen year old ignorant with the confidence of youth. He looked like a stereotypical skateboarder or drug abuser. He had shaggy brown hair that resembled an afro and wore brown skate shoes and dark colored, usually black, skateboarding brand shirts. He was about six feet tall and very thin. Because of his appearance, random people would approach him on the street to ask for cigarettes or lighters. Kenny was also a mixed up, brash adolescent who had anger and confusion bottled up inside. He had been smoking marijuana for some time now to escape from reality and his problems. He was aware of the possible consequences of doing drugs, but did not fully understand them and did not think that he would ever come to any real harm from smoking.
This innocence was lost when he met a painful reality. The worst possible incident hap-pened one day when Kenny was smoking with his friends Greg and Nate. Kenny was already high enough for his satisfaction, but because there was more to be smoked, he smoked more. After a few minutes, Kenny experienced hallucinations and everything became engulfed in a wave of green light. He sensed the cold hand of death was near him, passed out, and started to have a seizure. It is impossible to describe the feelings Kenny felt throughout the rest of the experience because unless one has experienced it, they have no way of even imagining what it must have felt like. Consciousness pulsed in and out of him as if parts of his memory were just lit on fire and burned so that there were holes and the edges were distorted and unclear. During the unconscious stages he was totally unaware of the entire world around him, but could still think and wonder what was happening to him. It was similar to that feeling halfway between being awake and asleep where one has no idea that he is even still in bed but is thinking about some idea. Then Kenny became semi-conscious, that is, some vision came back. Everything was still a strong green tint as if he had very powerful green colored glasses on, but he could make out vague outlines of Greg trying to revive him. Greg and Nate had 911 dialed on the phone but argued whether to press the "send" button or not. Kenny became unconscious again and was startled back to some sense when he walked into a wall making everything appear with a strange purple hue. He sat down on the couch and finally slowly crept back into reality. It was needless to say the three of them were scared witless by the terrible learning experience.
From this experience, Kenny realized the dangers of drug abuse and the fragility of life. He vowed to stop smoking marijuana and never has since that day. As a former recurrent drug abuser, Kenny missed the false euphoria and the disconnection with reality, but he knew through experience the consequences of drug and realized that some could be fatal. He came to treasure every moment of life, and every breath was greeted with a thank-you. He felt like his friends really cared for him considering they were worried so much about him during the experience. This event completely changed Kenny's view on life, and he learned the priceless lesson that abusing drugs is an unreasonable risk to take.
Some may say that it is unnecessary to learn lessons the hard way, but because it is the best way to gain knowledge, most important lessons in life are learned this way. Although Kenny's experience was a difficult one, people all learn in this similar manner of starting ignorant, experiencing a painful event, and learning a lesson.
User Reviews
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2005-06-26 22:51:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by Danger_Ranger (user info) at 2005-06-26 16:41:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
What's 'maturing'?
Submitted by ellsmall (user info) at 2005-06-26 16:12:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
-1 gratuitous use of paradigm
-1 it was stupid & a lie
Submitted by Yams (user info) at 2005-06-26 12:06:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
This looks like the shit I might have written if I actually cared when I was fourteen or so. Good job.
Submitted by Ejryuu (user info) at 2005-06-26 11:43:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Oh-my-God, they-didn't-kill-Kenny!
The description of the character started out fairly well, but then it kind of went downhill : /
Submitted by AndyD (user info) at 2005-06-26 11:01:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
This is a really shit essay, its all based on really flimsy and circumstantial evidence which doesn't really back up any point(s) that you attempt futiley to make.
I mean, what the hell kind of grade did you get in class for this? D-? F?
Submitted by David.Federman (user info) at 2005-06-26 10:17:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2005-06-26 04:14:40 (#)
Ranking: -1
hap-pened?
wh-at yo-u j-ust pu-t te-h apo-strophes-s any-where?
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My paper was hypenated, and as I was going through it to post it, I must have overlooked that one. By the way that is a HYPHEN not an apostrophe.
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2005-06-26 04:14:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
hap-pened?
wh-at yo-u j-ust pu-t te-h apo-strophes-s any-where?
Submitted by Circe (user info) at 2005-06-26 03:49:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
That was... really amazingly bad. But the -2 is for your oh-so-witty comment at the top. Insulting people is not the best way to have them enjoy your mediocre adolescent babblings.
Submitted by downerSTAIN (user info) at 2005-06-26 01:51:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
...I'm so fucking stoned right now.
Oh my God, they killed Kenny!
Submitted by simple_catalyst (user info) at 2005-06-26 01:02:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
"Anyway, this was a true story except for the part about never smoking again."
and on that note cue the drums...
Submitted by David.Federman (user info) at 2005-06-26 00:57:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Well we think it was an allergic reaction or something. The people he smoked with were fine. They also think it might be because they were smoking all day and his throat was pretty burned, so he thinks he jsut stopped breathing for a while or something. Who knows.
Anyway, this was a true story except for the part about never smoking again. That part is there just because it had to be for class. It was a maturation narrative so they have to start off ignorant/innocent, experience something painful, then learn a lesson and become sadder but wiser.
Submitted by cumguzzler (user info) at 2005-06-26 00:53:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh this is a fantastic piece. The best ever!
Submitted by simple_catalyst (user info) at 2005-06-26 00:49:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
you have to smoke your own body weight
in pot for it to be lethal.
that shit was laced, the moral (which dumb-
fuck) kenney missed was:
no your dealer.
bitch.
Submitted by checkyourmail (user info) at 2005-06-26 00:18:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
meh