I can sometimes be a little too much to handle. I get it. However, some of those things that are looked at as “a lot”, are anything but, they are the staple moments that changed me, that made me who I am today. Every individual has these staple moments in their life, moments of either mistakes they have made or glorified accomplishments that changed the way they viewed themselves. Every one of us has staple moments.
I didn’t really know what my staple moments were. I never really thought about them, until one night I was lying in bed and I remembered two opposite, yet so similar life stories. I realized those were two of my staple moments, without those moments I wouldn’t be where I am today, I wouldn’t have the strength that I do and the mindset that I take on the world with.
Let me tell you my staple moment stories …
Staple Moment 1.
I was in grade one. I know. That was some time ago, but I remember it so perfectly that it has to be a staple moment. It was the time of year where chickenpox was going around and there was no stopping them. Now that I have spent some hours working in a school, I understand why when one person got sick, everybody got sick. I digress. There was one student who was off for, what seemed like forever in our little kid brains, and he was finally back at school…but… he had some pox scars. We could see where his chickenpox had been; however, he was given a clean bill of health and was ready to go back to school.
To give you an idea of this student. He was a small peer, brown hair, dark eyes and got picked on a lot, we will call him Brown Eyes, I can’t remember if he had brown eyes, but it seems fitting. Even prior to getting the chickenpox, the other students in the class liked to pick on him. Again, a staple moment. What do you think these unkind grade one students did when Brown Eyes came back from being off and had pox scars? Of course, they made fun of him. Told everyone he was still contagious and that he should be sent home. Said he was “diseased”. Reflecting on this as an adult, I can guarantee these students did not come up with these insults by themselves, that they had heard them from home, children are sponges.
Little ABIGAIL could not stand to listen to these comments being made. I was outraged, well.. as outraged as a six-year-old can be. I marched my little three feet body over to Brown Eyes, with a look of pure determination on my face. I remember we were standing by our hooks outside of the teacher’s classroom. I then looked at everyone picking on him and announced, “IF HE WAS STILL CONTAGIOUS HE WOULD NOT BE AT SCHOOL… LOOK” I grabbed his arm, and put my tiny index finger on one of his pox scars, then turned back around and said, “SEE. I DON’T HAVE CHICKENPOX; NOW LEAVE HIM ALONE.” I woke up the next morning with chickenpox.
Even though I ended up getting chickenpox, and I don’t even know if it was from Brown Eyes or just because it was in the air, I don’t regret my actions one bit. That was a staple moment in my life because it taught me that we need to appreciate every human for what they do in this world, that each person is valuable and that we do not judge, period. I was six.
Staple Moment 2.
High School. Growing up in Quebec, there is no middle school in between, to soften the blow before heading right into hell town. It doesn’t exist here. When you are twelve years old, you are thrown into the pack of wolves and expected to survive. There are different theories on survival, one “keep your mouth shut and keep moving”, the other, “make connections”. I didn’t follow either. As I said, I am a lot to handle. The actual high school wasn’t that bad. We had to stay in our respected areas, so there really wasn’t much venturing off, except for one almost fistfight, but that story is for another day.
The worst of the worst was the bus. Now I don’t mean in general. Most of the buses were tolerable. The bus that I went on…was not. It was known. The bus that brought me to and from school every day was known as the “the bus from hell”, even teachers knew that if you survived high school without having to get a ride to and from school you were tough… I guess I was tough. By the time I was senior, I had tamed the bus down because apparently short girls are scary, but when I was a freshman, it wasn’t the same story.
I sat in front of the bus and had watched, listened or smelt:
- Fireballs being thrown at the bus driver
- Apples being thrown at the bus driver
- Baseballs flying around
- Weed
- Fights
- Fireworks (that’s a cop story)
- And so much more
Our bus driver had called the cops so many times, sometimes we didn’t make it home before dark. One bus driver didn’t even show up to work, no notice, just decided he wasn’t taking it anymore. I had sat in the front and kept quiet while this was happening because apparently it was “normal”. It was downright terrifying is what it was. It was one spring day, on our way back home, they decided they were going throw pennies. This isn’t the worst thing that they have ever thrown, but I had downright had enough, again, I’m a spitfire. I stood up and told them to “F Off”. Now, of course, the reaction was to throw more pennies and ignore my scream of annoyance, but that’s not the staple moment. The kid in the seat behind me said, “don’t bother standing up, it doesn’t make a difference” and my reaction was, “well, I’m not going to sit down”. Figuratively of course. I had to sit down; the bus was moving.
That staple moment taught me that if everyone thought the same way as that kid, our world would implode. That is not the type of people that this society needs, it does not need people sitting back and letting others destroy what is rightful to everyone. There is a point in standing up, even if I wasn’t listened to that day by the seniors, you can’t let one moment ruin your spitfire.
I have shared my two staple moments in life. The moments that changed the direction I was going in and made me who I am today. I want you to take a second…
What are your staple moments?