Will He Come Back the Same?

There is a fine line between maturity and immaturity, as that line is in the eye of the beholder. For someone to become more mature there must be a significant happening in one’s life for them to turn over a new leaf. That happened to one of my best friends, Richard. For him to become the mature man he is today, both he and I can trace that instant click of maturity back to just one situation.

To this date, Richard and I have been best friends for about nine years now, I was quite young when I met him as he is older than me, but I still remember to this date how he used to be. During the time that we grew up together, he was a hooligan at all times. His ‘crazy’ button had been pushed in and seemed to be stuck just as a keyboard key will get stuck in and the letter h strides across your word document at 100mph while you frantically try to pull it out so that you can continue writing your essay before the end of class. Richard got his first motorcycle when he was 13, this started off his cycle of psychotic behavior in my opinion. Living with his grandparents and his two younger cousins, Richard didn’t have many rules in his house. Giving him the fuel to his fire to go out in the middle of the night and ride his dirt bike where ever he pleased, or to get in fights at school.

But the day of maturity did not show up for another couple years, to the point of I was concerned that he was too much like a wild stallion, rearing and bucking at rules and smashing through gates that held him in. It was not until he was 17 years old when I truly saw him change. It was afterschool, I had just gotten home and had sat down at my computer; I signed onto msn and of course Richard was online waiting for me. Double clicking his icon, a window popped up and I typed in ‘Hey, what’s up?’, and got a response of ‘…I need to talk to you about something serious…’ which confused me. Richard was never really the serious guy unless it was something really bad. But as my eyes scrolled over his typed up words, I shuttered at the thought of what might be going through his head.

You see, his grandparents were obviously retired and were getting money from the government to take care of themselves, as well as Richard and his two younger cousins. But it seemed that the government was cutting back on the money that his family was getting and it was already hard enough to live on what they were getting. The family was tight for money and it was hard for a 17 year old boy to get a job that could generate enough money to help support his family. Richard had decided to join the army. Richard had never been one for discipline, but he knew that he could join as he was over 16 and that he could get a significant amount of money to help support his family. At 17 years old, my best friend Richard joined the army, did his training and left to fight for his country. During his training time, I only got to see Richard at Christmas, but after he left to fight for his country, it was two years until I saw him again. He was 20 years old the next time I saw him, no longer did I see the almost puppyish mischief in his eyes, no longer did a boy stand in front of me, but a man.

For many kids, getting a job or their license would be the highlight of their teenage years, bringing them out the immature bubble that holds tight around a child’s body. But working at Wal-Mart or getting their license, was never a big deal for him, to bring him out to maturity, it took the hardest choice anyone could ever make in their life. Will they sacrifice their body, mind and soul for their country or not? Making that choice gave Richard a better outlook on life and brought the mature man I always knew he was out into the open.