The number of hours you will spend reading my story won't be more than the number of hours I spent living out the story neither will it be lesser than the number of hours I spent writing the story. I know time is of essence. I'll just start my story properly with some little explanations attached to it.
Charity, they say, begins at home. So does your life story. I don't know if everyone started life at home, I mean it's hard to tell so it's better not to conclude on behalf of everyone but my life began at home. My family were the first people I lived and interacted with before I met people from the outside world. Most people lived their life according to their home training they received. That was the first thing I was influenced with. Everyone has their different belief on something. It's just left for you to start our naming the good and the bad according to what you were made to belief.
Coming from a family that spared nothing involving discipline, you might say that I was well taught and might be well-mannered. You may even wish your family were like mine but I advise you don't start such thought just yet. Each family has their beliefs and doctrines. You might be taught to understand something different from someone else's perception doesn't mean you should start judging because if you can get to understand fully the type of life persons from such family were made to live, you'll reverse your sweet fantasy of becoming like that person. I'll start by describing what I was made to be like due to the type of life my strict family enforced on me.
I was from a type of family where friends aren't too allowed or welcomed because I was told and lectured with the fact that you would hardly find a true friend so rather than being deceived by the wrong people or friend, it's better to be yourself because you would be responsible for whatever happens to you if you choose to go against this rule. Viewing from the bright side, this belief could be true, but weighing the advantages and the disadvantages, there is every tendency that it would affect your life negatively, more than it would help you but do I have a choice? Due to the experiences my parents had, which I have no idea about, they banned us (my siblings and I) to never have a very serious friendship with anyone at all. So, to me, what's the need having an unserious friendship with someone, it's like you are toying with the persons feeling with the person's feeling. Not wanting to hurt anyone, I decided not to make friends which wasn't very easy for a cool-headed, talker and jovial person like me. I mean all this qualities will only endear you to the heart of most people and so I decided to be a quiet person at school which was yet another problem.
Being too quiet as a personality would most times always make you the target for bullying. That was what I suffered.
I changed school when I was about to enter Basic form 1. Coming to a new school when I was very young, I couldn't feel the tension a new student would feel at that time. Well, I couldn't judge the attitude of my classmates or if they like me or otherwise because I was way too young to understand that too. But as I entered Basic 3, it was getting clear to me that my classmates didn't like me that much. When I tried talking to them, they were rude to me. Some even went as far as to tell me to my face that I was rude, selfish, stingy and lacked manners. I guess they were exaggerating it. I mean, when was I rude to people when I hardly talk, when was I selfish or stingy when most people would want nothing to do with me. I think they were right about the last one but they said it in the wrong way. I actually don't know how to make friends.
I mean, I only want a shallow friendship which most children of my age will find annoying. I had no other choice because I wasn't allowed to have friends over to play with me at home or me visiting them. There was a time I made a friend with one of my female classmate. We were paired up for a sort of project I couldn't remember. She instantly liked me but I told her not to come visit me at home. I made sure I had a load of excuses ready incase she suddenly became inquisitive. Well, trouble couldn't escape me no matter how much I tried. I guess you would already know yushallow friendship don't last at all. Instead, it increases the number of enemies you have to deal with. She never took my word for it and instead gave me a dangerous and unwanted surprise by showing up at my house unannounced. How she got to know my residential address still beats me. I made sure I hid my details from people but I guess this made her all the more curious about me that she had to find out more about me by all means. She refused to tell how she got my address. Such a sneaky detective. Well, I started to pay the price. The popular idiom, "Curiosity kills the cat" wasn't so I my case. Instead, it became "The curious cat kills it's object of curiosity with it's curiousness". This changed saying suited my case at that point.
My parents made sure to give her the direct message of her being unwelcomed. I was so scared and embarrassed at that point. She went home with a dangerously sulken face. I knew that I would be more doomed at school than I was with my parents for breaking the rule. My parents so scolded me as if I had committed murder or I was accused of it. It was clearly not my fault, she was just too stubborn. When I went to school, I hid my face. I purposely sat on the seat at the back of the class, fervently praying that she wousay anything but that wasn't bound to happen. Being a person that loved gossiping to the core, she told everyone about it and from that day, most of my classmates distant themselves from me. Most of them thought I wasn't psycholookay. She practically switched from being my friend to being my sworn enemy. I guess that's how it goes. The most annoying part was that I wanted to show to my parents how wrong their perceptive about friendship was but it seemed like I only proved them right with what happened. Though, I now know she wasn't a true friend, my parents were also at fault for behaving the way they did. I mean, who survives without a friend in life? You don't need to answer. It's a rhetorical question which answers itself. I withdrew into myself completely. I was then known as the smartest and quietest student.
I haven't told yet but not only is my family known for its strictness, it's also known for its degree of individual intelligence. My dad is a down-to-earth genius. My brother is a smart machine. And the rest of us are special and talented in our own way.
Being smart, sometimes isn't everything. Life could be boring, so boring without having a friend to talk to. My parents just doesn't understand this. I will prove this to them someday.