Q4c) ‘Sometimes we laugh not out of good cheer, but to avoid and absolve ourselves of a deeper pain.’ Drawing on your experiences, write a narrative essay that illustrates this quotation.
Laughter has been regarded by many to be the best medicine. Should it be stress or depression, laughter has been found to alleviate these undesirable health risks.
However, as a healthy young man, I would like to add one more benefit to the list. Laughter has also been known to alleviate the effects of guilt. Please let me elaborate.
When I was ten years old, I was selected to be part of my class’ soccer team for the upcoming interclass soccer match. Of course, being able to represent my class for such an event made my pride swell within me. After much sweating buckets of perspiration in preparation for the competition, we were certain that we would emerge champions. Our passes were well-coordinated and we had prepared special formations for assault and defence.
Of course, that was until I had observed Class 4A’s team rendering another class’ team helpless against their attacks during a friendly match. Granted, it was all due to the skills of their lead striker, however, the fact that the game had been a one-man show still remained. He had made shots at the goal like Beckham and his passing skills had seemed only secondary to Ronaldo’s.
It was as if he was the one who was controlling the game. As short and thin as he might be, he seemed to tower over the opposition team and even his own teammates. Hence, it was no wonder that Class 4A’s team won by 15 points by the end of the game.
After the game, the lead striker of 4A, who happened to be the captain, advised the team to rest until the day of the competition itself. As his team members dispersed while chattering gleefully to each other, I was livid. It was unfair to me for them to win without even practising as much as my class did. As such, in exasperation, I swore to myself that I would find to a way to make them lose terribly.
The only way for an ‘inferior’ team to win a ‘stronger’ team in sports is to use tactics. However, there are times in which the use of tactics crosses the line of fair competitive play. When such things happen, there would usually be a referee to make a judgement. However, even a referee’s power is limited in the sense that he only has his power during the course of a match.
Therefore, I came up with a plan to eliminate the captain before he could even step foot into the stadium.
Thankfully, one member of our team had been classmates with the captain of 4A. As such, he would first strike a conversation with the captain while I prepared the trap. I instructed my accomplice to lure the captain to the staircase during recess, where I would stick my foot out, causing him to trip down a whole flight of stairs and hopefully fracture a limb.
And it happened. The captain of Class 4A’s soccer team was totally caught off guard and he went headfirst to the floor at the bottom of the flight of stairs. As I dashed off (in glee, no less) to inform the teachers of the mishap, my accomplice rushed up to him to ask if he was all right.
By then, he felt sharp pain whenever he attempted to move his left arm. That meant that his arm was disabled for good and that he would not be able to play in the competition, which was a mere three days away.
During the competition, we scored five goals against Class 4A’s now ace-less team and won. Eventually, we fought our way to the finals and emerged champions. When my team captain carried the cup like a Holy Grail amidst the cheers and laughter of my teammates, I took a last glance at Class 4A’s team.
They were dejected. I could imagine how the news that their captain had fractured his arm after taking a bad fall tore through their morale not unlike the way bullets sliced through thin pieces of cloth.
At that moment in time, I laughed. Not out of the sense of prideful victory, but at a feeble attempt to absolve myself of a greater and deeper pain within my heart, a feeble attempt to hide my guilt and shame.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)