LIFE LESSONS WITH VLADVAMPIRELORD

I tend to look to the past a lot even though most prefer not to dwell there. It has been over forty years since a certain memory yet it has been troubling me lately. It involves a child who was bullied at school, someone I decided to be friendly with though he was cruelly treated by boys and girls alike and beaten savagely for being meek and other reasons which were absurd such as his last name. I felt as I recalled this that I should have been a better friend and helped him more even though I was subjected to the school yard sadism as well. Then last night it came back to me and I realized why I was being haunted by this. This bullied school kid actually invited me to his house and even though I declined, he persisted until I agreed to go home with him. We must have walked about beforehand a bit until we headed towards his house which was over a highway bridge across town. When we got there I noticed it was getting dark. His grandmother met us at the porch and said she was happy her son had a friend as he was always alone to his supreme embarassment. Then my classmate went inside his home and I was all alone outside, realizing soon it would be pitch black outside and I would have to walk home a great distance by myself through some rather isolated and intimidating areas I was familiar with during daylight. I started off alone towards home over the highway bridge to a wooded area beyond the school and before I knew it was dark. A panic took hold of me and I wanted to run, but I did not want to show fear by running in a funk across an abandoned school yard so I walked as fast as I could. I crossed the street beyond the school and walked briskly through a residential area to a bridge that allowed passage over a local stream. I could hear insects and animal noises as I walked alone over the bridge in darkness. I then walked the path in total darkness that bordered a swampy area near a Middle School until I got to the apartment complex where my grandparents lived. Their apartment was about three quarters of the way and when I reached the door my mother was waiting to yell at me for coming home so late in the darkness. After obsessing about this incident from when I was a child, I realized finally that this tale was not about friendship, but about the other child getting protection from being beaten and abused as he walked home. And walking home in the darkness I got a brief taste of his terror being alone and vulnerable whereby he faced this every day. That gave me some clarity and also the sense that the past prepares us for the future. Alas.