Rachel Ong

July 17, 2007

Mr. Jones

Published Piece

This past school year from 2006- 2007, I was in 8th grade. I supposed 8th grade should be the most fun year of junior high. You get to be the oldest and the biggest. You know everyone and everything. You get to boss all those little 6th and 7th graders around. 8th grade should be a breeze right? Well, it wasn't for me. I guess I always needed to learn things the hard way. Maybe that is why 8th grade was so hard for me. I guess I learned way too much! Have you ever heard of these phrases: "You never know how much you have, until it is gone;" or "Live life to your fullest because you never know when it will be taken away from you;" or "Everything happens for a reason?" I have heard, read, and was reminded these phrases all the time. Sadly, I never learned them until it actually happened to me. And in 8th grade, it all happened -- the pain, the sorrow, the stress, the worries, the losts.

I started off 8th grade with the mindset that it'd be extremely easy. 8th grade began easy. For about the first month of so, I was learning the routines of my classes, getting to know my teachers, and enjoying being with my friends everyday. To my surprise, the work got harder and heavier. I did not know how to manage all this work my teachers were piling up. On top of the work, some drama from 6th grade and 7th grade came up again.

In my previous middle school years, I have had huge problems with a classmate of mine. He went from loving me, to hating my guts. He was always talking about me behind my back and making fun of me. Everything you can think of that is mean, he did it to me. He spent many class periods throwing different objects at me such as beads, cereal, or paper. All I wanted was to be friends with him and make peace. Well, that did not happen quickly. For two and a half years, he tortured me and made me miserable. I tried and tried to help him, to talk to him, or to just be nice. I guess this was not the fastest method.

Towards the middle of my 8th grade year, school had either progressed or digressed. I became good friends with a different classmate who also wanted to help that classmate that was causing me problems. I also started having problems between my other friends. Homework was not getting less. There was more and more homework and projects, which led to more and more stress. I started talking a lot with my new good friend. He and I were together in every single class. We sat together during math, last period. We talked a lot and we always got into trouble. However, we were always talking about what we could do for our classmate that would help him. So we became very close.

However, between my other friends we started getting into arguments. We often talked behind each other's back. What we did was we would be mad and gossip behind one girl's back, but to the girl's face, we would act like there was nothing going on. However, everyone knew, including the girl, that nobody liked her. As girls, we had those little "silent fights." Also, I stressed so much over homework. If I was not stressing over homework, then I was stressing over projects, and if not projects, then tests or quizzes. I was so busy with schoolwork, I did not have much time to talk to my friends! One night, I stayed up until 3. I was working on a project for my history class. The project consisted of an essay, a power point, and a presentation. It took me an entire quarter of stress to finish. So the middle of my 8th grade year was very tough.

As 8th grade wrapped up, school changed a lot. The end of 8th grade was when I started to learn all these lessons. First, "Everything happens for a reason." I learned so much from that one classmate that I always had problems with. Although 6th and 7th grade were miserable, I actually realized that it all had a purpose. From all our arguments in the previous years, we both really got to know each other. We grew from each other. He always told me my flaws. He told me that I lied, that I was mean, and that I was fake. Him telling me that made me very aware of how I acted. I also told him that he was a hypocrite, he always wanted attention, and he was a arrogant. By telling each other this, of course the criticism hurt at first. Nevertheless, it helped us change. Also, proof that "everything happens for a reason," my schoolwork load. Although I was completely stressed over homework, projects, and tests, I learned how to manage my schoolwork. I learned to place all my worries on God, also remembering that he has a plan for me. I found that not to worry is the key. To remember God's plan for my future brought me through all the work I had to do. Therefore, when I was faced with tough schoolwork, I remembered that God is giving this to me to help me in the long run. Another idea I understood by the end of the year was to, "Live life to your fullest because you never know when it will be taken away from you." With that one classmate, he told me that he wanted to kill himself. I talked to him for so long telling him not to. I realized though, that if it ever were to happen, I needed to spend as much time I could with him as possible. I would never know if he actually went through with it. Then, I would never be able to talk to him again, and I do not think I could handle that. Finally, a tough lesson that I learned: "you never know how much you have, until it is gone." On the last day of 8th grade, I realized how close and united my class was. When school ended, almost my entire grade stayed late after school just saying good-bye to each other. We all cried and hugged each other. Even the people that I never really talked to, we hugged. On the last day of school, I guessed everyone realized how much we were going to miss. We all felt so united. When I had to say good-bye to that one classmate that I had problems with previous years, he made me cry. I just could not stand that he was going to a different school and I could not talk to him as much anymore. It just killed me to see that I could have done so much more. Sadly, I took did not take advantage of the time. I just let it pass, but now I learned that I really need to take advantage of what I have while I still have it.

Anyways, 8th grade had many ups and downs. I went through so many hardships. However, I do not think I have ever learned so much from one year. Because everything happened so painfully, I will never forget my lessons that I learned: take advantage of the time that I have, and live life to the fullest; to remember not to worry about anything, and just know that it is happening for a reason; and to thank God for everything that He has given to me, because he could take it away from me at any time. 8th grade was definitely a year I will never forget. I would not be myself, if I did not learn these lessons the hard way.