End of school for another year!

As the sun goes down on another school year, it is important to assess how I went.

I started out 2010 in the same fashion as I had done for æons past: a boring person with no sense of direction, identity or adventure. My life was rudderless, with the highlight of my weekend perhaps reading the Saturday Herald Sun, visiting the grandparents or going for a driving lesson with my uncle. Gee, it was a good time to be alive.

However, this year was not to be like others before it. One person was the catylyst for this change, and it is an indictment on my part that I haven't told him this yet. He did this at a time when other people were happy for the status quo to remain: sure, they were my friends, but their sense of conservatism and my own shortcomings meant that there was an imbalance in the relationship. Let me explain a little further.

Perhaps a quote would be a good place to start: The one that comes to mind is Buckingham's advice to the titular character in winning over the general population of England in Richard III: "Play the maid's part, still answer nay, but take it." Looking back on it, it felt like I was playing the "maid" - or, in this case, fool - in order to be likable and popular. One event epitomised this feeling. Entering the Tournament of Minds competition  - which is basically one about problem-solving in a visual manner - last year, the brief was to demonstrate what life would be like without books. I can't remember the point of my character but I do know that it involved dressing up in what were essentially rags. This is indicative of what I used to be like.

What I am trying to hint at is that I would be happy to dress up and act the fool and be totally disinterested in gaining any sort of self-respect. And my friends knew that. So, I would get constant ribbing about everything - but that was fine, because it was only a "joke". Little did I realise that I was actually acquiescing to my friends' demands that I, and only I, be the butt of the joke when it was plain to Blind Freddy that other people were perhaps more worthy of this honour. Huh. Some friends.

Herein lies the dichotomy that existed between my friends and I - the imbalance in power if you will.

However, through the help of the catylyst, I discovered that it is actually alright to have a bit of delf-respect....amazing, isn't it?

Fast-forward to this year where I am now getting the respect I deserve from my friends - apart from the few idiots who are still stuck in a time warp (see my "Role of Conservatism" article") who I now have the confidence to shoot down if they say something that's not fair dinkum.

It's an odd thing to write about, I will readily admit. That friends don't give you respect is incredibly sad on their part - although it is incumbent upon the person getting pillaged to do something about it. I did, with thanks to the good friend.

Now, with the new year and a fresh start less than two months away, hopefully I can increase my self-respect and confidence towards others.