Short narrative: Living with one’s mistakes

Short narrative: Living with one’s mistakes

As we grew up, I remember a common phrase that was used by our parents and teachers “live in such a way that you will never have to regret over your past.” The idea behind it was that whatever we did as young children would follow us into our future. This was the story of June, my elder sister’s best friend since they were in elementary school. She was almost like a sister to me because she spent most of the time with my sister at my parent’s home. She was well brought up and disciplined, too; to some extent, I can say that her character was quite exemplary. I even remember the many times she brought me gifts for my birthday and took me to the park for fun. June was indeed a kind soul, a friend who became more than a family for my sister and me.

However, this did not continue for long because after they joined the university, we stopped seeing the two of them together as often as before. We assumed it was because June and her family had relocated to a different neighborhood, but there was more. Soon, my sister Imelda was all alone and withdrawn. I have never seen her sad; she could come home and lock herself up in her bedroom. She was worried she no longer had a friend to help her with her assignments and to play and interact with. Our mother noticed that there was a problem and she decided to talk to Imelda and find out where the problem was. She said she was having issues with June and was hoping that someday everything would be back to normal.

On one night, during the weekend, Imelda came home quite late. She had attended a birthday party for one of her classmates earlier that day. Upon her return, she looked so devastated, and the following morning she told us about it. June was also present at the party. However, she was no longer the wonderful June we used to know. Ever since they joined the university, June had changed a lot. She had made new friends and new hobbies too. Unfortunately, her new friends were not such good friends, and her new hobbies were not such good hobbies. She had even stopped speaking to Imelda because Imelda was not in support of her new lifestyle.

June, who used to spend a lot of time at home reading and interacting with family, was not spending a lot of time partying. According to Imelda, June hardly looked at her books, and many times she skipped classes because she was too drunk to go to level. June moved out of her parent’s house and rented an apartment close to the university. However, this was not her only reason. June wanted to hide her new lifestyle from her parents. By the time it was their time to select their majors, June had failed in most of her prior courses. As a result, she was expelled her because, in addition to the poor school performance, she had also been involved in drug trafficking cases within the university.

At this point, June had to go back home to her parent’s house and have them know the truth because she could not find another school. Her parents were so disappointed; they tried to look for another university where June could undertake her studies, but it was impossible because of her previous school record. June had to start accepting and living with the implications of her wrong decisions. Soon enough, my sister and her other classmates graduated. Some of them looked for jobs, while others decided to go for high studies. For June, not only could she be admitted to another university, but also, she could not get a good job.

It was at this point that June realized that she had made a mistake by falling into peer pressure. She began regretting the many times Imelda warned her against her new lifestyle, but she ignored her. She regretted leaving her parent’s house because this was the beginning of all her wrong decisions. She told us all about it when she came home to talk to Imelda and see if she could help her get a better job. By this time, the only job that was available for her was laundry and cleaning. This was not unlike all our expectations since June was a bright child and had the potential of being greater than this. She expressed her agony to my sister and my parents. They could not resist helping her because she had finally learned her lesson.

My father was working with a university within the town and spoke to the management to have June admitted for her undergraduate degree all over again. They agreed because my father said that June was like his daughter. However, June had more issues to worry about; her parents were retired and were not ready to pay for her school fees as such, June had to work part-time to earn her school fees. It wasn’t very easy for her, but after several years she was done and graduated as a psychologist. She chose to do this course because she wanted to help young adults make better decisions, especially about choosing friends and resisting peer pressure.

Although June is now doing okay, she still regrets that she lost three years of her life because of the mistakes she made in her initial college years. Her peers finished school more than four years before her, and by the time she finished, they had already developed themselves in other ways. As such, the connection between them was lost. Even more, she regrets that her friendship with Imelda was broken and has been hard to redeem. It pains her that those who led her to the wrong lifestyle were never expelled from school and that she was the only one who suffered for it. This story is an illustration of what living with one’s mistakes is like. It made the statement “live in such a way that you will never have to regret over your past” clearer for me that indeed decisions have consequences that we have to live with.