Distorted Perception is No Good

Difference in Perception. Digital image. Infuse Five. N.p., 17 Apr. 2013. Web. 07 Jan. 2016.

 

 

Alex was riding on his road-bike to return home from school. At school, he studied very hard for the upcoming finals and thus was very exhausted. All he wanted to do was sleep in his cozy bed and get some rest. He was tired of memorizing math equations and chemistry concepts. The amount of stress he endured until now was unbelievably massive. His parents treated him like a studying machine; the pressure was simply too much. He wished that the final exams were over already.

As  always, Alex expected to safely reach his home. Suddenly, however, he lost balance and almost flipped to the front, with the bicycle’s  handlebars kissing the ground . When Alex turned around from the place where he fell, he saw a stick. He was prepared to fight anyone who might have put the stick there. Although he rode without wearing any safety gears, Alex luckily survived the accident which in a split second could have been  a catastrophe. Yet both of his knees were scraped open and his left elbow dripped with  blood. He could not ride his bike any longer because of the injury and so he walked, holding the bike on his side.

A few minutes later, he saw a crowd of people approaching. Immediately, Alex began to suspect them. Besides, he needed a scapegoat to whom he can pour out his anger on from the accident. When Alex and the crowd stood so close to each other, he let go of the  bike and punched the nearest person even before being noticed.

Instantly, Alex regretted his action. He was stupefied to recognize  the face of the boy he just punched ‒ Josh, his best friend he had known since birth. Both Alex and Josh were very upset. Josh was shocked, but recovered soon after. When Josh decided to attack Alex back, the rest of the crowd stopped him. Thus, he instead kicked Alex in the stomach for revenge. Both Alex and Josh could not believe what was actually happening between them despite their friendship. Yet neither of the boys  cared to know  what the misunderstandings between them were. They continued to argue, each one either defending himself or accusing the other, without even pausing to breathe. Eventually the crowd dispersed as their argument lasted over 15 minutes.

Both Alex and Josh spoke so loudly that they awoke  one of the most aggressive dogs in town: the infamous Doberman Pinscher in the neighborhood. Unfortunately for the two boys, the dog was unleashed and the gate happened to be open. The muscular dog made its way out to the gate  of its owner’s house, and started barking at Alex and Josh. All of a sudden, the boys noticed an old man with grey, white hair jogging in the direction where the  the beastly dog was. They looked back and forth at the Doberman’s sharp teeth and then the old man who barely had any muscle. Alex and Josh ceased arguing and blocked  the old man’s path so that he would not get hurt. However, the old man was too tall for the boys to to block. The stubborn man made his way through the boys despite their efforts to stop him from approaching the dog. Scared to death, Alex turned  pale and buried his face into his palms and so did Josh. They expected the dog to rip off the man’s arm or other body parts, like some dogs do on television.

Unexpectedly, when the boys uncovered their faces, the old man was petting the dog who had been barking at them just a few minutes ago. Alex and Josh found the situation  to be unbelievable. Soon, the boys  realized that they had incorrectly interpreted the whole situation as the old man turned out to be the owner of the dog. The boys saw the old man enter the open gates and then the house where he called his sons and daughters who were already  asleep. After a brief moment of silence, Alex described to Josh how enraged he was after his accident with the road-bike and apologized for making Josha scapegoat. Then, Josh apologized for hitting  him back. They forgave each other. After the  loud argument, Alex and Josh bonded even stronger than before. Nothing could break their friendship . In fact, they were so happy to reconcile that they became closer pals. They each returned to their houses where they studied hard and  the passed all of their exams.  Although the boys forgot everything they had studied for the finals once the vacation began, they never forgot the life lesson acquired  from arguing with each other. They constantly  reminded themselves to think first if there were any misunderstandings between them ever since the incident.