Writers Choice

The Incident That Changed Me

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

The Incident That Changed Me

In my life, I have never given much importance to material things and appearances. I have always prioritized knowledge and wisdom and have always been keen to learn more and more. I love to increase my knowledge, and for this purpose, I adopt various tools and methods. For the sake of improving knowledge and skills, the first method that I use is books; I love to read books. The second method I adopt is the reading of blogs and informative articles over the internet. I like to read, on any topic, on any issue, from any medium and at any time. I love to read biographies, stories, fantasy, and fiction, about current affairs, politics, history, geography, and scientific inventions, anything you name. Maybe, this is the reason; I am popular as a book-worm in my social circle.

I always took pride in being called so, as it was a kind of honorable title for me, and never felt ashamed of myself. My parents also felt proud that their son is interested in a healthy activity, but this all changed last summer, when I took admission in college. My first day at college was the worst day until now as I faced the worst embarrassment that day. As I belong to a small town, I have always been very simple and humble. I never gave much importance to fashion trends and given priority to my comfort over any kind of stupid torn jeans or any cool T-shirt. Being an introvert, I also happened to be less social and talked very less.

On my first day at college, I faced the worst ragging of my life. I won’t go in the details, but my simplicity became a reason of insult for me, and my knowledge never helped me there. I was mocked for wearing outdated clothes and got taunted for wearing glasses. They were the senior boys and were ragging everybody who they thought were new to the college. They went so far to pushing me and teasing me. I fell on the ground, and my glasses also fell at a distance. One of them stepped over my glasses, and they broke.

I was very embarrassed at this and cried for hours in my room, once I entered my hostel. It never stopped there; whenever those boys saw me, they taunted me and called me names so insulting that I burned with anger. I wanted to kick them, but I knew they were greater in number and bigger in strength. One day, I gave an analysis to the whole scenario. After thinking for a while in various directions, I reached a conclusion, that those boys only judged me over my looks, and considered themselves superior on the basis of outer appearance. I thought that what use is my knowledge, if I do not use it as my power. I decided that I will no longer be a punching bag for any one, and will use my extensive experience as my strength. For this, I had to come a far out of my comfort zone.

There was a debate competition taking place in our college, and the participation was open to all. I usually didn’t take part in any extra-curricular activities, but this was a golden chance for me, to remove the negative tags off me. I requested my supervisor to allow me to participate in the competition. He hesitated at first, because I didn't participate much in the class as well, but gave me permission reluctantly, and forwarded my name as a candidate. I worked very hard to prepare myself to talk publically, especially in front of a large audience. I used to stand in front of the mirror till late at night and practice the material which I had collected through various sources. Finally, on the day of the debates, I was feeling very nervous. As I was climbing the stairs for delivering my speech, my legs were shivering, because I had never spoken publically. Due to the constant support from my peers and teachers, I was able to stand at this stage. I hesitated a little before starting the speech, but it was now or never. I mustered up all the courage and began speaking. Once I started talking, I got the confidence and went on speaking. The bullies, who were sitting in the front rows, and were teasing every other candidate who came to deliver the speech, were shocked to see the confidence and speak me like this. I was feeling satisfied to see the look the shocked reaction on their face. It looked like finally, I was able to prove that knowledge is a more significant strength than the physical and apparent appearances.