FREE ESSAY ON MIKE

MIKE

Mike
Influence? Why is it that the people who influence us most influence us in ways that are
not easily quantified? Through her work with abused children, my mother has shown me the
heroism of selfless dedication to a worthy cause. By being an upstanding individual, my
playwriting teacher in middle school acted as an inspiring male role model at a time when
I needed one most. By being approachable and interesting, my World History teacher in my
freshman year of high school opened my eyes to the connections between a society's
culture and its history and broadened my view of cultures and the world. While these
influences mean much to me and have contributed greatly to my development, they came too
easily to mind. 
The fact that I could sit down and write a list of how these people influenced me
suggests that the influence did not alter me in any profound way. These people are all my
elders, and perhaps I feel distanced from them. The person whose influence shook me to
the deepest level is a person whose influence is nearly impossible to describe. Mike, the
best friend I've ever had, changed me, and I changed him at one of the most crucial times
in our lives: the seventh grade. We developed our personalities, our senses of humor, and
our love for girls at the same time and in the same manner. It would cheapen his
influence to quantify it; I am what I am because of him; I cannot say that about anybody
else. 
Mike came to my school in the seventh grade, and we immediately clicked. Before he came,
I didn't feel like an outcast by any means, as I had my friends that I had known since
first grade. However, until Mike, I never had anyone my age to identify with completely.
Mike made me feel confident in who I was; he reaffirmed my drives and my thoughts and my
inspirations. At this awkward stage in our lives, we found uncritical appreciation in
each other. We both were obsessed by movies and had a similar sense of humor. We had the
same problems and the same thoughts. That was all it took. 
Halfway through that same year, Mike and I became inseparable. In fact, our yearbook had
a section that lists the names of students and what they were never seen without. Under
Mike, it read: Ted,  and under Ted: Mike. I became a staple at his house and he at mine.
We no longer had to ask our parents if it was ok to have a sleepover on weekends, they
assumed we would. On weekdays, we usually walked over to his house, which was near
school, and hung out there till I had to go home. Our favorite past time on those long
afternoons after school was to walk to the nearby food mart and get a bag of chips and
two 24 oz. Coca-Colas. Watching a movie, we would sit on his couch with our chips and
Coke and talk about our dreams of working together in the movies. Mike wanted to be a
director and actor, and I wanted to be an actor and a playwright/screenwriter. It was the
perfect combination. We even tried writing a few scripts together. 
Of course, as two seventh grade boys, it wasn't all skips through the park either. We
were extremely competitive and would get into brutal fights for seemingly no reason at
all. One time, I pulled out a chunk of his hair, but I don't remember what started the
fight. I think that our connection was so intense that we could not have normal emotions
toward each other. As friends, we were best friends, but in an argument, we wanted to
fight each other to the death. Still, the Wrestlemania days were rare; ordinarily, the
intensity of that connection was a good thing. I was pretty shy about girls, and when I
did talk about them with guys, I would usually just say a girl was hot. With Mike, I
could really talk about girls and who they were; with Mike, I didn't have to put on my
public cool fa?ade but could really say what I felt about a girl. 
Then we went to separate high schools. We tried to maintain the friendship, and you might
think we would have been able to since we had been so close, but we drifted apart. Our
friendship was based on being near each constantly, of growing up in the same town, under
the same conditions, with the same hopes, fears, and dreams. Now we still go to movies
occasionally and hang out, but it's not the same, and we both know it. I thought Mike and
I would be friends forever, and maybe we will be. I mean, we have to make those movies
together, right? But the way things look right now, I doubt we will ever reconnect. Our
friendship in the seventh grade was magical, and lightning doesn't strike twice. 
My playwriting teacher from middle school left, but I handled it. I learned a great deal
from him, and I appreciate him for the subject he taught and the way that he taught it. I
will probably miss my parents when I leave for college, but I doubt the separation will
pain me deeply since the connection between parents and children will always be there.
With Mike, I lost the best friend I ever had, and I lost that forever. Losing that kind
of bond cuts deep, and I know it's the type of wound that doesn't heal. It's the type of
wound you just live with. 
But just because we're not friends anymore, it doesn't slight the times we had when we
were friends. Those times are what influenced me so deeply. No, Mike did not work some
lesson into my heart, he worked himself into my heart, and even if I never see the guy
again he changed me forever. I think that finding someone who you truly connect with and
feel that you were destined to meet, someone who you feel truly understands you and makes
you feel special, I think meeting someone like that is one of the most profound
experiences you can have.