Earlier today, I remembered something that happened many years ago.
My brother had just arrived in the US. He joined the high school near our apartment right away. Everyday he had stories to tell us. The classes were easy but he found it hard to understand the students. He said that he couldn't relate to most of the kids his age. He witnessed a lot of fights in school. He was especially disturbed by the girls that took part in physical fights. You don't see a lot of that back home.
He kept mostly to himself and the teachers were drawn to him. There was one particular counselor that was always asking him to take part in some school activity or the other. At that time, he had started working at a 7-11 doing manual labor and was exhausted from life. He is also an introvert and had no interest in anything that involved groups.
I remember one conversation he told me. His counselor kept reminding him about a big event. I forget if it was prom or something else. But she really wanted him to participate in it. So one day as she reminded him, he asked what exactly the event was. Getting excited at this new question, the counselor explained that he would pay some money for the event and on the day, the seniors would walk in line at the football field while the rest of the school cheered them on.
My brother said he felt pain just thinking about him taking part in an activity like that.
He looked at the counselor and said, you want me to pay to take part in something like that?
No thanks.
My brother had just arrived in the US. He joined the high school near our apartment right away. Everyday he had stories to tell us. The classes were easy but he found it hard to understand the students. He said that he couldn't relate to most of the kids his age. He witnessed a lot of fights in school. He was especially disturbed by the girls that took part in physical fights. You don't see a lot of that back home.
He kept mostly to himself and the teachers were drawn to him. There was one particular counselor that was always asking him to take part in some school activity or the other. At that time, he had started working at a 7-11 doing manual labor and was exhausted from life. He is also an introvert and had no interest in anything that involved groups.
I remember one conversation he told me. His counselor kept reminding him about a big event. I forget if it was prom or something else. But she really wanted him to participate in it. So one day as she reminded him, he asked what exactly the event was. Getting excited at this new question, the counselor explained that he would pay some money for the event and on the day, the seniors would walk in line at the football field while the rest of the school cheered them on.
My brother said he felt pain just thinking about him taking part in an activity like that.
He looked at the counselor and said, you want me to pay to take part in something like that?
No thanks.
