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opinion
Friends'
pains bring perspective
Growing up can be quite ambiguous, especially in a culture
without an identifiable rite of passage; like walking a youth
into a grass hut to come out as an adult, ready to hunt for
the tribe's people.
At a time in my
life when I was still feeling the invincibility of youth,
life slapped me in the face with the harsh reality that it's
time to grow out of this Peter Pan complex I've been living.
I would like to
share two stories of two friends, both of whom my admiration
for grows everyday.
One of my closest
friends gave me news of an abnormal pap smear in which a cyst
was found that tested cancerous. The treatment for this is
to freeze her ovaries in an attempt to kill the diseased matter,
risking her ability to bear children.
Imagine, for a
moment, living with this information.
Another good friend
of mine had been pregnant for the last seven months. She just
gave birth to a daughter, whose brain had stopped developing
in the first trimester because of a chromosome defect. Her
baby girl was stillborn.
Imagine grieving
for your child who never even took her first breath.
These women are
only 24 years old. And being my friends as well as my age,
this news (which I had received only hours apart) came as
the biggest shock. I realized not only how much I care for
these people but how petty my own problems really are.
While silly high
school drama of he said-she said or why that boy never called
is long behind us, college drama of choosing a major or units
that aren't transferable are starting to fade as well. What
are starting to surface are real life situations that deal
with, well, what's real.
Situations like
these cause a reassessment of life and what's really important.
I've realized that while I've been trying to go out and find
something of importance, it's always been right here in my
own circle. I'm still absorbing this news and I'm sure there
are a million lessons to learn from it.
While I cannot
even fathom what my friends are going through, both women
are already moving on with their lives with inspirational
courage and optimism. Even at the worst of times, they continue
to smile and know they are blessed. This leaves me feeling
nothing but pride that these strong women are my friends and
influences from whom I can only try to reflect.
Christine Shin
is a journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
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