Jorge Nazario

Learn From Your Mistakes

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

Jorge Nazario

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

Jorge Nazario

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.