MY BEST YOUNG DEEDS

AGE – 9

 One night my sister and I were watching TV, when we heard a splash in the swimming pool.  Of course we immediately smiled at each other.  We knew the cat often fell into the pool.  It was our new cat, a Rare African Wild Cat, also another animal my mother saved.  In the end it was good that this cat kept on falling in the swimming pool because he was the only reason why we left the glass sliding door open.  If the glass had been closed, we would never have heard the splash. 

As we walked to the swimming pool, we suddenly realized, it was the gardener’s son, and he couldn’t swim.  His head was under water and he was drifting further from the edge of the pool.  So in the end we pulled him out, gave him a towel and made him some coffee.  First time I ever took part in saving another  person.  Thanks to the cat, I felt very good about the evening.

On another day, after a school swimming competition, I was about to jump off the 5m jumping board.  When I realized that something was not very right with another child, he was one year younger than me.  Some big bully was trying to convince him to dive off the 10 meter board.  Instead of jumping, I decided to watch them for a while, until I realized the poor kid was under allot of pressure to jump.  And he was scared.  Diving off a 10m board, for an 8 year old was a serious thing.  Of course it is possible, but then you must know how to do it, and you must be confident enough to dive properly.  So I shouted and asked him if he wanted to jump.  All he did was shake is head.  So I told him, if he doesn’t want to jump, then he shouldn’t, he should just climb down.  The big guy shouted at me to shut up.  Good thing that I don’t listen to  just anybody that threatens me.  So I am still very proud that I stood up to him in this instance.  Sometimes it is a bad thing to do; because when you’re a lot smaller, you are going to get beaten up.  But at least my problem had one achievement I am proud of. 

 Simply just at school, I was strangled, thrown with a hammer, constantly bullied and beaten.  Mostly because I do not stand down.  But in a way, that was why I was not scared of this guy. 

I must admit, it was really hard to get me to shut up sometimes (-:  Especially when I think I’m right.  When the guy realized I was not going to keep quiet, he started climbing down the stairs towards me.  I waited long enough for him to climb down and then just before he reached me I jumped.  As soon as I hit the water, I swam to the edge, climbed out and ran to the authorities.  Luckily they were there and I managed to convince them to run with me to the diving boards.  When we arrived, that older guy was still trying to get the poor kid to dive.  In the end he was removed and told never to return.  Maybe I saved his life, maybe not, but after a few years, those boards were ripped down due to all the problems that occurred at the public pool.  So in the end it was a good thing for me to do, and there was a lot of people around, but nobody bothered to confront the bully. 

 

Chapter List Next Chapter