Harry Zhuang
English 12 Block: C
April 2, 2009
Topic: Self-awareness leads to Meaningful Change
Maturity from self-awareness
Narrative essay
Before I came to Canada, I lived in a big family in China. Everything in my family was perfect except my cousin because I did not like her at all. She was born when I was six years old and she is the only female child in the big family. Since the first time I saw her, I started to hate her. I hated the way she was, the clothes she worn and almost everything attached to her. But all of the hatred had gone away after my grandfather’s birthday party.
Even now I can clearly remember what happened during the birthday party of my grand-father. Before the party began, my cousin came into my room. She wanted to play with me and borrow some toys from me. As I did not like her and the toys she wanted to borrow were very precious, my answer to her was: “No!” Then she went back to her room with disappointment. I actually felt happy when I saw her despair.
After a while, the party began and my family had a big dinner. There was a lot of delicious food on the table, but unfortunately, my cousin sat beside me. I decided to do something to accelerate her unhappiness. So when she took the food she liked and put it on her plate, I took it away and put it on my plate. After a few times of this, my cousin could not sustain any more and left the table. I felt a little embarrassed, so I left as well. The other family members did not pay much attention to what happened because they thought this was just a joke between children.
Therefore, I went back to my room and lay in the bed to have some rest. My cousin came in and asked a question: “Why did you do this to me?” I answered without any hesitation: “Don’t you know that? Because I hate you!” Then my cousin could not take it and her voice exploded: “But why? Why do you hate me? I am your cousin, not your enemy. Why?” Her volume kept increasing and the other...