Challenge 21: Living Right

Discuss how some negative experience (disability, illness, failure) has had a positive influence on your life.

When I was in my old school, Mount Carmel School, in New Delhi. I used to be one of the best students and my picture would always come up in the overachiever’s page. Every evening my mother used to sit with me, until I would finish all my homework and studies. Two weeks before my final 5^th grade exams, my brother, who was in 8^th grade got chicken pox. Naturally, it was hard to avoid him since we were living in the same house. Two days before the exams, I too got chicken pox from my brother. Surprisingly, when my mother called the school, they told us that they would promote us to the next grade anyway, due to our good performances in the past.

This incident has influenced me in many ways. From this incident, I learnt that the way people see us, and our reputations actually matter. People actually recognize what we do and the kind of people we are, and this could really help us in any situation. For example, recently, a friend of mine was joking with a younger student, and I walked by him. A teacher falsely accused me of bullying, as I did not help the kid as a bystander. When this teacher reported this to a staff in a higher position. The staff that knew me immediately told the teacher that this was not possible, as he knew me well. He saved my reputation before it got ruined.

The way we live and the way we treat people matters because it can heavily affect our future. From the incident that happened in 5^th grade, I have learnt to be the best that I can be, and I continue to work hard in all the things that I do.