Being adopted had frustrated me all my life. I always felt
like I could never get anything done right. I always felt like I was second
hand baggage. I was someone my parents did not even want and was thrown away like
garbage on the side of the road. My new parents were ok, they fed me and looked
after me. They had put up with my temper, my mood swings and my weird dress
sense. Today I was angry, angry at
everyone but mostly angry at God. How could he allow this to happen? How could
he allow my biological parents to throw me out? It was his fault. He should
have looked after me. In fact he should have not even allowed me to be
conceived. If I did not exit it would have been better.
I was sitting at school in my class complaining about life.
Complaining about everything that was going on and how life was unfair. I had
no purpose. My life was a waste. As I finished the though I heard a popping
sound, Followed shortly by another. The entire class went deathly quiet.
Someone said, “Isn’t that a Gun”. There were a few more pops, this time they
were closer and were sounding more like bangs, they were sounding more like a
gun. A few people came running past the class screaming. “Someone is shooting
people, we need to hide” Said a boy who ran into the class. The teacher tried
to calm us all down. We all got under our desks and remained as quiet as
possible. Some of the girls were crying. The tension was too much.
My desk was by the door. I was beginning to freak out. We could
hear the gun shots getting very close. We heard footsteps outside our class
door. It was someone walking past. It could only be the shooter. Everyone else
had been running. The footsteps stopped. I heard a gun being reloaded. This was
not a good sign. I tensed up waiting to see what would happen. We all remained
quiet. Suddenly the door burst open and in walked the shooter. He was a young
guy holding a 9mm pistol. As he leveled it towards the room to begin opening
fire I sprang into action. I grabbed the legs of the desk I was under and
charged the person in front of me. The desk slammed up against his head before
he could turn to face me with the gun. A shot went off and ricochet off the
roof. I rammed the desk a second time
against him. The gun dropped to the floor as did the attacker. He was out cold.
The desk must have hit him squarely on the jaw. It was a KO in round one. I was
stunned. The entire class was stunned.
Afterwards I was sitting by the police cars drinking some
sweet juice. People from my class came past and thanked me. For the first time
in my life I felt special. I realised that if I had not been around people in
my class would have died. I then realised that I did have a purpose. I could
make a difference. It was up to me to make the choice. I dialed my adopted
parents and told them what had happened. I told them that I loved them. It was
a start.
Always remember that life is made of choices. You can choose
to live a selfish life or a life that blesses others. You can choose to be depressed
and full of self-pity or you can choose to be a person that other people want
to be with, someone who lifts people up rather than kicks people down. Make
some right choices today.
Cheers
Greg
