Jose Aceves
English 1B, Section 49
Craig Lore
17 February 2014
What it Means to be a Friend According to dictionary.com friendship is: the state of being a friend, association as a friends, a friendly relation or intimacy, or friendly feeling or deposition. Rosen in her article, “Virtual Friendship and New Narcissism”, says, “In its traditional sense, friendship is a relationship...of mutual interests...within specific social (and cultural) contexts”. Both definitions are technically correct, but in my opinion friendship is not decided solely on mutual interests, but when there is affection between friends and when they are willing to be there. Not only physically, but also mentally for each other. Although, a friend made through a social network can’t really be there for you physically, he or she can just listen to a friend’s problems and be attentive.
I remember doing many things with my friends that felt very genuine, like when I played my first soccer game in the rain and although none of us really wanted to play, it turned into one of our best games ever. Another is when my friends and I went to Monterey for “Senior Ditch Day”. However, out of all the moments I spent with my friends doing nothing of importance, but while spending time with one another, one single event sticks out in my mind that defines, at very least for me, what a friendship is supposed to be.
One day during mid-November of my junior year of high school, I strictly remember that my friends and I were all sitting together at the large table of our high school’s cafeteria eating chicken nuggets with a side of mac and cheese. We did what we always do, talk, and rather brag, about how well we did the previous afternoon or night while playing soccer or online video games. Then, my friend, Francisco said, “This weekend we should all do something together”.
I responded, “Like what?”
He said, “Well we are all into shooters, a genre in video games, let’s do that in real life”
Alexis, another friend, exclaimed, “Hell yeah! We should! But… going paintballing is expensive”.
Francisco retorted, “Who said anything about paintballing. Bro, we all have Airsoft guns let’s come to the school on a Saturday and have a match!!”
From there it was set, that this next Saturday we were going to have a shootout. The rest of the week went by quickly, and every single day of it we were getting more excited. Finally, Saturday arrived and I woke up at around 7:30 in the morning made myself some pancakes and a milkshake then I put on some track sweats, a thin shirt, padded my knees and put on a mask with shades to cover the eyes. One of my friends came by my house to pick me up around 9:00 and we headed out. Since I was the one who brought the most airsoft weapons and had the most experience I was instantly one of the captains. We divided into two teams and the “battle” started. As we kept on playing, the more intense it got and the more we had to focus on the “battlefield” and not in staying out of sight.
Before we knew it, people started to call the police because they saw a suspicious group of people dressed in black, with masks on, and carrying “guns”. The police obviously arrived within minutes and saw that it was just a bunch of teenagers with airsoft guns. However, we were still on school property so they came in to ask every one of us about who had the idea to have this activity at school. Francisco looking embarrassed and was about to give himself away. I however, felt extremely guilty because I brought most of the guns and if there was any damage done to the school it would have most likely been with one of mine. So, I said it was me. The cop pulled me aside and said that he would have to fine me, and put me in the “system”. At that moment, all of my friends started trying to talk to police, saying it was all of our faults and not just my own. When it came down to the last moment, not just a single friend, but all of them were willing to go down with me, it got to