"Lesson Learned " by Christian Z.

Nearly three years ago on May 18^th, 2013 I was fortunate enough to attend my Grandfather’s fourth retirement party. To all of those asking the obvious question “How do you retire four times?” my Grandpa simply told me that he retired from four different companies because he could never see himself fully retiring from the workforce. Upon arriving at the party, I saw that at least 80 percent of the guests were people that I have never seen before. I specifically remember rolling my eyes as I walked into the house since I would have to endure the awkwardness of small talk and fake cheerfulness for the rest of the evening. I sat myself down at a small table and prepared to heroically fight an epic battle against the evil temptation of sleep.

            As I began to drift off and wonder when dinner would be served, one of the guests sat down in a chair adjacent to mine. It was difficult to see the man’s face at first because it was partially covered by his hand and a cell phone that he was speaking into. His conversation drew to a close, at which point the man turned to me, furrowed his eyebrows, and gave me a rather confused look. Immediately after he turned, I recognized him as a very prominent political figure (No, not Bernie) and readied myself to put on a good smile and not mess up saying hello. Before I could even make a sound, he asked “What in the hell are you doing son?” Now obviously I am shocked at this point because I have no idea what I did to offend this very powerful person and now it looks like they are going to get into an argument with me in front of all these other strangers. I do give myself some credit for being able to get the words “Excuse me?” out of my mouth in a timely manner, but I then sat wondering just what would happen next.

            He readjusted himself in his chair and began talking to me, this time in a much less confrontational tone. “I know exactly who you are and I cannot understand for the life of me why you’re sitting here alone at this table. Pretty much all of the guests here are very influential people that are very powerful in their fields and instead of trying to get on good terms with them and build a strong network, you’re sitting over here doing pretty much nothing. Go out and take advantage of everything that you possibly can in order to help yourself become more successful.” I sat back and reflected for a moment. I was surrounded by dozens of people who could very much help me in my life, and yet I sat at this lonely table in the corner. I turned to the man and said “You’re right.” I thanked him for sharing his advice and he gave a small smile and a gentle head nod in return.

            After the conversation ensued, I decided to get up and introduce myself to as many people as possible. It actually turned out to be quite a great time as I was able to share many laughs and stories with other guests. As the party began to end and guests started to leave, I said goodbye to everyone as they left out the door. I said goodbye to the man who had initially talked to me and he did the same, giving me a firm handshake and a wink as he left. I had to stay to help my grandparents clean up and then I went to bed in the guest bedroom. I was woken up very late the next morning by my Grandpa, he told me that many of the guests have called him to say good things about me and a few wanted to know when I would turn 18 so that I could be hired for internships.

            I learned a very important thing that night; make use of absolutely every opportunity and object around you. The road to success is obviously a path that is not very easy to navigate, so why not bring as many tools and supplies with you as possible? Everyone reading this has access to a giant network of academic support, a great school, and many forms of aid that exist solely on our high school campus. We have all been given many great resources to use and I sincerely hope that we are all able take full advantage of them in order to help us fulfil own dreams and aspirations.