Learn From Your MistakesBy: Jorge Nazario

The park in my neighborhood still reminds me of my best and funniest childhood memories.

There would always be this chilly breeze in these beautiful sunny days; and you could smell the

fresh air, having been produced just moments ago by all the trees that covered the basketball courts.

I used to go there all the time with one of my best friends, Erik. A tall guy with skinny arms and legs,

and a face that looked way too young for his age. And boy could he make me laugh. He either made

me laugh about the way he did things, the way he said things or by how he acted in certain

situations. I have to admit, though, that I laughed more at him than with him. Let’s just say that, in

my relationship with Erik, I would most probably laugh at him before I helped him in anything; and

not on purpose, nor in a bullying way. One could even say that I felt obligated to make fun of him

now and then, to teach him a lesson of modesty. He had a thing for making hilarious stories of

everyone. He made a fool out of everyone with exaggerated gestures, dramatic tones of voice, and

on-point descriptions. It was ironic how most of the times he ridiculed people for their physical

appearances when he himself had a ridiculously funny looking body. Nevertheless, that never

stopped him. So when things didn’t turn out as he planned, rest assured that I would be laughing at

him the whole way.

There was this one time that we went on a mini adventure to explore the river just by the

park. You would not imagine my amusement when I went into these adventures. I felt anxious and

excited to explore the unknown, to climb rocks, and to feel the adrenaline of adventure. We didn't tell

our parents, of course; they would say it was too much of a danger to go into the vast and unknown

forest. But we did it anyways. As we went down this steep hill that seemed as if it almost wanted

to toss me off of it, I noticed how my feet started to succumb to the loose and damp soil underneath

us. The dark soil was infested with bugs, spiders, millipedes, and one could only guess what else.

The forest reeked of rotten wood and humidity. As Erik and I looked at each other we realized that

this "mini" adventure would not turn out to be so "mini" at all. If anything seemed mini at all, it was

definitely how small Erik seemed to me as he started to sink into the soil and began to run as a

zebra would run away from a lion. I would tease him and say: “Erik, I think I feel something in my

right foot,” and continue, “I just saw a millipede right next to you.” It wasn’t true of course but I

enjoyed joking around with him. And as I joked around I thought he would start crying just as I had

been crying from my laughter. One second he had been the boldest adventurer and the next he was

just looking for a way out.

After the arduous climb down, we finally made it to the river-side where we would hopefully

rest for a while and clean our shoes and bodies from all the soil and mud. I was sitting in the dry

ground, avoiding any more mud or dirt, and Erik had the brilliant idea of walking over to the river to

wash his hands. “No way am I washing my hands in those wretched brown waters of the river,” I

thought to myself… sadly. I should have screamed it because not five seconds later, Erik crouched

to wash his hands in the river by the slippery and muddy ledge, when suddenly he skidded and

plummeted into the dark waters of the river. His eyes wide, filled with panic, and his body breathing

in short and hurried gashes revealing his rising heartbeat. He feared for his life. Now, it’s important

to understand that the river was intimidating, but it was a really small one, so in absolutely no

moment of the story was he in any type of danger or risk of getting hurt. I mean, I wouldn’t actually

let anything bad happen to my best friend. Anyways, in a hurried and desperate attempt he started

reaching for rocks from which he could grasp to get back onto the dry ground. One would think that I

rushed forward to save him, but in that moment you would not believe how occupied I was…

Occupied laughing in the floor, yes I even fell. In that moment he knew two things for sure: that I

would not be able to help him by my sudden consumption of laughter, and that he would definitely

get out of the river dirtier (and wetter) than he had entered it. I was not able to react until at least five

seconds after the incident. Erik was drenched in his school uniform and his only pair of school

shoes, which he would need to wear for the following day. His face, filled with disappointment and a

grin than did not match his body language, I could tell it was more to hide and control his fury. It was

no surprise that he wanted to kill me. To this day I still feel bad of how much of a useless friend I was

in his moment of need, but I felt as if I had to teach him lesson of humility: bad things do happen to

us all. And yeah maybe it was more fun to just sit and enjoy the show.