| Turning Point | |
| Character Sketch | |
| What's Becoming of America | |
A turning point in my life when I was forced to grow up was when a friendship of mine went down the drain. I was in love with a person for almost three years of my life, and I swear we had been through the worst of the roughest together… or so I thought. Things started off weird but that’s what made the friendship/relationship different and fun. The first time we kissed was the best night of my life. It was after a sporting event and it was unexpected. After that things just started flowing.
We spend a lot of time together and we became good friends getting to know each other, with the benefits of a relationship. We liked it because there were no strings attached. Things stayed that way for a little while, and some time later on things started to get really heavy. Neither of us realized this and we kept going like nothing changed. By this time we were spending all our time together doing whatever we felt like at the time. Things were that way for about a couple of years and it was amazing. We were skipping things and getting into tons of trouble just to be around each other. I felt safe and comfortable, but at the same time sneaky and adventurous. We lied about where we’d be or who we were with. Time passed and things were still going good, until one day over the summer I realized we were fading into nothing at all.
We didn’t spend any time together and we hardly talked. I tried confronting this person about it, but when I did it was horrible. We would end up fighting and getting sick of each other every single day. Then one day came that everything ended, and I wound up with a broken heart. Realizing those fun times and years were over forced me to grow up a lot. I learned to guard my heart and be more cautious. I also learned that anything can happen at any time, and being immature about something you can’t get back is useless. Maybe if I had realized that things will change, and you can’t really do anything to stop them, then things would be different than they are today. I’ve grown up since then, and realized that things won’t always go the way you planned them too, but some things can still work out, but only if you keep trying and working towards them.
Some peopled meet their best friends when they’re at a little age, and some people meet their best friends in college. I met my best friend the summer before my 7th grade year. It was at the carnival in May when school got out. I had talked to her before, but we actually hung out on this day. She had her hair in a bun at the bottom of her neck, a yellow shirt with a monkey face on the front, jean capris, and white slip on shoes. I was kind of nervous because I was really shy at the time, but it ended up being a very fun experience.
I remember fighting with my old best friend and joking around with Laura. I told her she was going to be my new best friend because I was mad at Emily. We ended up talking a lot and getting to know a lot about each other. I didn’t really hang out with her a lot because it was summer,
and she had a babysitting job during the day, and soccer or dance after that.Laura and I used to be extremely different. I didn’t like dance or anything like that, and she didn’t like the things I was into. After we started hanging out and talking 24/7, started to notice that we weren’t that different after all. We liked some of the same music, both found the same type of guys to be good looking, and we both liked some of the same books and movies.
We were both easy to get along with, and we got close really fast. I was dealing with some problems when I first met her, and to my surprise she stood by my side and helped me as best as she could. I never thought I could trust someone like I trusted her. It was all so new to me, and I was having a lot of fun hanging out with her. She took my mind off of a lot of things and helped me get over a lot of fears that I had.
If there’s anything I regret about our friendship, it would definitely be hurting her. She was interested in my brother at one point, and I got really mad. I hung out with another friend at the time, and I knew she was into Laura’s brother. I decided one night to hang out with her and Laura’s brother. Laura got really mad at me, and at the time I didn’t understand why. My friend and I were driving around with her brother, and Laura kept calling, asking him to come home and talk. He didn’t want to talk to her because he was also mad at her, but I asked him to go so I could make sure she was okay. At the time she was very angry with me, and I didn’t realize it. Stupid move on my part. I left with her brother and my friend again, and we were having fun for awhile when Laura called again. We ended up going back over there, and my friend and I went for a walk so Laura and her brother could talk. We came walking back up to her house, and her brother asked me to go talk to her because she wasn’t doing okay.
As I walked over to start talking to her, I realized that she wasn’t okay either. She was hurt, and I was the cause of that pain. "I can’t do it anymore," she said. I didn’t realize what she was talking about at first, but then I realized it was our friendship. I messed up really bad that night, and I regret it so much. She’s always been by my side, even when I put her through the worst. She had sprained her ankle not long before that night, and I knew she wasn’t in the best mood. Yet, I still pushed her and pushed her until I pushed her too far.
I know now that I handled everything the wrong way. Instead of freaking out and getting back at her, I should have talked to her, and told her how I absolutely felt. We both hurt each other, but we never actually fought. We were seriously the best of best friends ever. We’ve both grown up since those days, and we aren’t really that close anymore. We still talk and hang out, but not nearly as much as before.
Laura’s the most amazing friend anyone could ask for. From when she says, "Bam bam!" on the phone with a clothes hanger, to the millions of tears we shed on each other’s shoulders. Anyone in the world would be extremely lucky to have her as their best friend, and fortunately I’m the luckiest person if she’s put up with me for four years. I couldn’t ask for a better best friend than her.
Each and every year new and better things are being brought to us Americans. Whether it is new technology, games, music statements, or even new dieting plans, it’s leading to a drastically bad change among the people here of America. As we look all around us, statistics show us that six out of every ten Americans are overweight and even obese. It’s everywhere. It’s in all age groups, genders, even classes of people: people all around us are overweight and the numbers are climbing at an incredibly fast rate. A lot of this is due to early childhood and the type of environment we grew up in. Other factors could be the influence around us really pointing towards stress, or it could even be the changes we make to our schedules throughout our life time.
Obesity is at a rate that has been exclusively climbing higher every year. According to news researched by the University of Minnesota, the rate of obesity has risen 60 percent since 1991. One cause researched on is the fact that children in their early years are being exposed to more and more food everyday. Some people tend to over feed their children along with their ownselves. A serving of meat for example should be no larger than your very own fist. As you can tell, we are undoubtedly eating more than what is suggested to us by professionals.
A second reason why the rate of obesity is growing so fast is because of stress. We tend to turn to food as our "savior". Kids, especially teenagers, are starting to stay up later and later to study for school. All of this leads to the necessity of something that will keep us awake and focused. Most people think about food. At first the thought "I need to stay awake" comes to mind. Then afterwards "something to keep my mouth moving" pops into the mind. The fastest way to stay awake is eating and keeping your jaw in motion, and as a result people tend to lunge for food.
The last reason I am going to talk about as a cause of obesity is how we change ourselves and our bodies throughout time. We start working weird hours that we aren’t used to, or we quit getting the necessary amount of exercise needed. As a result of odd hours we will eat at fast-food restaurants just to feed ourselves. In reality we are eating three or four, even five times more the amount of sugars and fats than we eat if we would cook at home. And once again, the portions of food have grown throughout the years. The correct amount of exercise needed is at least 30 minutes of vigorous activity outside, everyday. People certainly have quit doing that. Ever since everything "new" has been coming out, we’ve lost our focus and concern for our own bodies.
In conclusion, we can all see that obesity is a problem among many fellow Americans. And yet you see no one trying to help solve it. Yes people are coming out with the "new diet pills," but we should all know by now that those really don’t work. They’re just pills putting stuff into your body that you don’t need. In conclusion, we know some causes of obesity, but there are many more, childhood exposure, influence around us such as stress, and our change throughout time. These are only a few, and we still are here sitting wondering who is really going to take the first step into making our future better for the next generation.