When I was in 7th grade we did this writing exercise in english class. The idea was that we were walking down a road and saw somebody walking towards us. We were told to describe them and I created this man dressed in all black , an incredibly cool character like some weird but dope mix of a cowboy, Fonzie and Ghost Rider, a total badass. He was a sort of amalgamation of every cool guy character I had ever seen on TV. As we described our stranger we were also supposed to talk about what happened as we passed by each other and despite the absolutely radical aura radiating off of him I gave him a wide berth. When everybody was done writing our teacher explained that the exercise was a way to look at how we see change with the stranger representing change itself and our subconscious perception of it. Sitting in class I didn't think much of it but now as I sit on this precipice it's on my mind again.
This is gonna be a hell of a year. I cannot express how proud I am of all of the people I have met in Flagstaff. I didn't even know that you could feel this kind of pride for friends but these are the people that I grew into myself with and got the absolute honor of watching them grow into themselves at the same time. They are all doing awesome things, walking down the road ready to greet their strangers but this time we’re all going different directions and they won’t be right there for me to see where we can all sit around and talk about what happened when we meet these changes. We’ll be in contact but we all know it won’t be the same. We will still work through all of this together but it will be a different kind of together. As great as all these things are going to be, as incredibly happy as I am to see all of my favorite people taking chances and going for the things they dream of, boy howdy is it gonna sting.
As I walk down this road towards these things I know I want, I can't help but feel like I should give them a wide berth. I know things are going to be alright. I know that sitting around in my comfort zone isn't gonna get me to where I want to be in life and I know that there's going to be obstacles but that they aren't the end of the world. I'm scared as shit of this stranger but seeing these people that I love walking their own paths I think it's about time that I met this dude and figured out what his deal is.
Joseph Parker 5/5/2024