Life as I Learned in High School

You can agree or not but high school years will be up there on the list of the most memorable stages in our life. This is the time for puppy love, prom and even the first taste of vices. The monikers and those silly things that we did because of ignorance and puberty will be forever printed in our biography thanks to the memories of the people we call friends.

When I was in high school, I was called batman. Not because he was my hero, nor because I was as rich as him with butler to boot. Not because I am as sleek as him, nor because I have the awesome rides that he has. It is not even because I was as intelligent and prominent as he is but mainly because the cartoon version has a square jaw. Needless to say, so do I.

All the rest of my classmates have the usual oval or round face but I had the square one. It evolved to other name calling which were all evil but I have to admit funny too. I was not the type to take jokes easily then given this was during the I-just-need-to-be-accepted stage plus being the I-need-attention middle child that I was. I have to admit it was tough for me. I would spend days and nights daydreaming to be someone else. I tried to take away the attention from my jaw by having reading glasses and having the I-just-got-out-of-bed-sort-of-Harry-Potter like hair. Yeah, you guessed it right, it didn’t work. I tried to grow a pimple or two, still did not work.

I endured this the most of my high school years until I learned the secret on how to make it go away. I noticed that when they would tease me and I would show them that I am affected, the more they aggravate it. Then one time, with the usual teases they would throw my way, I gave a different response for a change. I gave them a smile as if flattered for every banter and I would even say “Thank you.” The teases did not stop immediately but it faded slowly. I guess they grew tired of teasing me because it does not get to me unlike before.

The secret that made it go away? Acceptance.

One day, I looked into the mirror and realized Bill Gates is not my father or the Sultan of Brunei. I do not have the resources to have plastic surgery done. This is the face given to me by God through the genes of my Dad; I will have to accept it. Yes, I have a square jaw like Tyson Beckford and Demi Moore. Yes, I don’t look like them but we have the same jaw line. Huh, take that.

In life, we have a lot of things that we cannot control. There are a lot of things we want for ourselves but are rarely given to us. Whatever it is that we cannot change, we just have to learn to accept it and we might even learn to appreciate it. We take what is given to us and just learn to go with the flow. After all, life is too short to be spent on bickering.