Autobiographical Essay
The most interesting and engaging stories in our life do not necessarily have to do with the principal milestones. One gets invaluable experience and life lessons in the course of daily life and sometimes a usual day can leave unforgettable impressions in mind forever. Growing-up and gradual moving into adulthood includes a lot of transformations and changes in our mindset, attitudes and way of thinking. Life lessons are quite bitter and in some situations I have felt really uncomfortable, ashamed, awkward and even miserable, but this is the way wisdom and endurance come into our life. Nobody is excellent and can say he or she has been always wise and never done or said things they will regret in the future. The following story describes one particular moment in my life which I remember whenever hear someone discussing other people.
When I was 15 years old, I was not really concerned with my life goals and did not know what I would become later. I saw people working, making career, realizing their plans and understood that people are be more or less successful. Everyone has a certain vocations and if he is lucky to discover and develop it on time, the life is going to bring happiness and success. After classes, I usually enjoyed walking through the park with my friends telling different amazing stories or just planning our following weekend. There was a man exhibiting his photographs in the park and he seemed to spend all his day there waiting for someone to pay attention to his pictures. It was a silver-haired man with a beard who was about 50 years old and looked like an old wise master from Japanese cartoons. Now I can frequently tell whether a person is creative and engaged in arts, because they have very unusual, extraordinary looks and way of talking or behavior. I am not an expert in photography so I felt quite indifferent about his collection and in most cases went through not even thinking about the artist. One of my best friends had a birthday the other day and he invited everybody for a picnic in our beloved park. His name was Kenneth and we usually had a great time together. He took his camera with him and we all were having fun eating pizza, playing games and taking pictures with each other. After the party was over, Kate who was also a good friend of mine suggested to take a walk in the park.
Making jokes and playing tricks were parts of our daily communication and I was in a good mood to make everybody laugh that day. We approached a photographer who spoke to a potential customer interested in his pictures and I paid attention to his works for the first time. I saw a photo of an apple on the plate, nothing special and I do not know why, but I started laughing and talking to my friends about it. Our friend Steve was not very sensible or tender-hearted, so he asked the following:
“Look at that picture guys! How long do you think it has taken him to get this masterpiece done?”
Kate tried to calm him down and said:
“Steve some pictures only seem to be plain and straightforward. But only a real artist or professional can tell the real value of a picture.”
Steve did not pay to much attention to her comment and went on trying to entertain all of us saying:
“Come on. This is an apple on the plate and any of us can take such a picture. I mean if you have a good camera, an apple and a plate you can start exhibiting your pictures and making good money. Haha.”.
Each of us knew Steve was joking and he did not probably really mean it, but the photographer eventually heard our friend’s comments and turned to us smiling peacefully. He came up to Steve and told him he would be glad to see his works and get some advice. He said:
“I appreciate young talents and I am sure you can create a much better picture, so please come anytime and show me your work”.
I could not even say a word and felt so embarrassed, ashamed for my friend who stood laughing and criticizing other photographs. If I were him, I would probably apologize for my absurd and nonsensical jests, but Steve was a different kind of person and he answered with a wooden face:
“No problem man. I can even improve the creative idea and add some pear, banana or plums. Let me look what I have at home and you will see how talented I am”.
The photographer did not comment on this phrase and simply left to clean frames and boxes for his pictures. We went home speaking loudly and joking as usually. I had a feeling that man was thinking about us like most of young people who hang out and do not care about somebody’ hard work, efforts and life expectations. When I came home, I felt so upset and disappointed that I could not fall asleep thinking about different people’s lives, goals, dreams, talents. I even imagined myself an artist who was criticized and disrespected by others. I was thinking about my parents who dedicated their whole life to family and work being ready that one day somebody can say “It is worthless and you should have found something better in your life”. I was sure Steve would think about his mistake over night and feel sorry for that joke.
I was walking home through the park next week and I saw the inspired photographer to set his works and greeting people and I wanted to say “Hi” to him as well. I am sure he recognized me and in one second he turned his back to me and started looking for something in his boxes. At that moment, he pretended no to see me and I did not dare to come up, because I had nothing to tell him and kept on moving towards my house. At night, I met my best friends and Steve also came smiling and laughing as usually. Everybody was likely to have forgotten the case with the photographer and I was eager to start that topic. I do not know why I wanted to talk to Steve about that, maybe because he was a good friend of mine and I simply wanted to prevent from such mistakes in his future life. So, I started talking to him:
“Hey Steve. Do you want me to borrow you my camera so you can get high-quality pictures you promised to that man in the park?”.
Steve was not a person who acknowledged his mistakes and weaknesses and he gave me an immediate response in his regular humorous manner:
“Hehe. I do not need a professional camera to take pictures of apples and other food. I believe those photographers have nothing to do in their life pretending to be some powerful artists. I will not even waste my time on proving this fact to him. I think I have already showed him my attitude and let him just further present his incredible pictures in the park”.
Steve never was a bad person, but he was very self-confident and stubborn so I did not even try to persuade him he was mistaken. People love criticizing and laughing at each other, it probably makes them feel better, because believing somebody is unique and gifted causes one’s own uncertainty and hesitation. Of course, it is much easier to pretend all people are at the same level and never strive for positive changes and achievements, but I believe such people as the photographer (I still do not know his name) to be very strong and powerful leaders who have a great will power and do what they like even if somebody starts teasing and condemning them. It was a great experience for me and nowadays, I try not to criticize somebody’s work and arts, because nobody is insured from this in his or her life and whenever one starts judging or talking badly about other people, I am sure this person has a low level of self-esteem and tries to compensate this by diminishing the others. There is a very suitable metaphor about life for this context: “Life is like photography. We develop from negatives.” The man from my story had to deal with negatives in his lab and at the same time, he had to face a lot of negative feedback on his work in the park. But wisdom and self-respect never allowed him to be worse, start arguing and teaching others. He knew his work well and I always remember his face, when having a confrontation with people. It helps me no to lose my dignity and master myself, because whatever you tell such people they are not likely to change.
