The Value of Friends E.S. Doshisha International Jr/Sr High School, Kyoto, Japan

To this date, I have met many people who spoke of their friends' kindness, bravery, or achievements. Stories such as a friend who kept encouraging another person through hard times, or a friend who saved another person's life are the sorts of stories I have heard during my life. Such stories are very moving, and I often find it very difficult not to let my tears fall. I become jealous of the speaker for having such a wonderful friend, and I would often perform a quick search through my memory to look for a friend just like the one in their story. Most of the time, however, I find none and I wonder how I could gain such a friend. I finally found the answer this summer. To be exact, I simply realized that I already have such "wonderful" friends around me. I felt very ashamed of myself for not noticing the fact for a long time. It was during my soccer club's five day training camp in Nagano. After the second day, having played four games of soccer and run a total of 160 sprints, I found myself unable to move due to backache. The pain ran through me each time I made an attempt to bend, or place additional weight on my hip. I could only describe the pain as an "electrifying" experience. Every movement I made, even walking, caused pain to run from my hip to my back, leaving me paralyzed for a short time. The only thing for me to do at the time was to walk very slowly. After dinner I returned to my room which I shared with three other friends. Knowing that I had an hour before the evening club meeting, I tried to read the comic books that were on the floor. I bent down to pick them up but instead, I fell forward on the floor. A strong pain had rushed through my back so intensely and so rapidly that I simply had to fall. A teacher came to my room in no time, and I was told to skip the meeting and rest. Then, after several hours, with the other roommates back from the meeting, it was time for sleep. However, I still had my contact lenses on. I tried very hard several times to pull myself up to stand, but never succeeded. Then, one of my roommates who saw me quickly fetched me the case. I was simply surprised by his action. Before I could thank him, he quickly took the case, with the contact lenses in it, back to where it was. I thanked him afterwards, but he acted like he had done nothing special. Then a few more days passed by very quickly, and the day came for us to return home. Here, I was surprised again. I was trying to load my bags onto the taxi when another friend came up to my side and loaded them for me. When looking back to that day, I realized that I did not touch my bags until I finally had to get off at my train station. My friend had taken care of my bags for me all the way from the hotel. Realizing this, I thanked him again when I arrived home. Throughout my life, I have made many good friends. I have also accomplished many things with them. Yet I never knew, nor realized that friends can do such nice things to help me when I am facing difficulties. As I mentioned before, I have met many people who spoke to me of their friend's kindness, and how they are grateful for having them. This summer, I was able to experience a similar incident as the stories I heard before. I was moved as much as I had been after hearing the stories. Most of all, I am relieved that I also have such wonderful friends around me. Now, I can be the story teller, speaking to others of my friend's hospitality and kindness. In addition, I will always be willing to help my friends when they are in need of it.

Child Research Net would like to thank the Doshisha International Junior/Senior High School and Eiki Sou, student and author, for permitting reproduction of this article on the CRN web site.

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