The Observations and Questions of an Adolescent

-Christopher-

His name was Christopher. He would answer to Chris, but I called him Christopher. I never got to know him well.

We were in the same Driver's Ed class. It was a private class that both high schoolers who had never been in the driver's seat of a car and adults who had never gotten around to getting their license attended for a month. Christopher and I were in a class full of kids from different schools. I knew only one other person in class. To my knowledge, he knew no one else. He took that as an opportunity to act out, and I fell in line. I don't know how I feel about that.

When I say that Christopher acted out, it wasn't necessarily vulgar. It was just rough banter that you couldn't really hold against him- except maybe to say that he was annoying. No one reached out to him in class because of that. However, Christopher had a way of being involved everywhere. That is the only way I got to know him. He would charge his way into the classroom, shout "PRESENT" when the teacher took attendance, and comment on conversations that were never really intended to be heard by him.

He acted out, and it wasn't hard to tell that he was going through something bad. I could see a sadness in his eyes. Yes, Christopher would smile and laugh obnoxiously, but his eyes never lit up like they're supposed to. This boy of sixteen or seventeen was hurting. I saw him smoking outside of class and scars on his wrists. My heart went out to him, but I never got involved. I'm not sure he would have wanted my help anyway. But that is only speculation.

I remember that Christopher brought in donuts on the last day of class. Of course, everyone was nice to him then. They walked around his table and sheepishly asked if they could have a donut. He would say yes and they would take one and rush off to their friends. Only a few thanked him.

Then I went to him to get a donut. He told me to pick one out and I said, "Thanks, Christopher." It was a small gesture and I honestly only said it out of habit, but Christopher smiled with eyes lit up. Sometimes, small things do a lot of good.

It amazes me how little we know about the people around us. We have such complex lives, and we rarely stop to wonder about someone else's. Perhaps a smile goes a mile to the guy walking on the street or the lady scanning your groceries. Why is that?