Matt's Turning Point in Life Essay Example

It is easy to disregard and shelve away the appalling and disappointing aspects of our lives with little hesitation. However, most people can agree that they learned a thing or two even from the worst circumstances they ever found themselves in. Life lessons happen frequently, but there is always that one lesson that alters the course of your life. A friend of mine, whom you could say never took anything seriously-his existence included-happened to experience a life-changing event at a time when everything seemed lost. Everybody has a turning point in their lives and sometimes the things we did; the choices we made that we are not proud of played a vital role in shaping us into the people we later became.

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For privacy reasons, I will employ the handle Matt to refer to this friend of mine. Matt was in his sophomore year of college when he decided he was going to drop-out, hitch a ride with a fellow he had met a week before and head east for a lucrative job in a milk factory. Raised by a single mother who worked several jobs to send him to college, Matt had never had a male influence growing up, and so he fell quickly for the older man's words. The man, whom I may call Jim, was advanced in age and worked as a supervisor in the said milk factory-at least that is what he told Matt. There was no reason why Matt should distrust him considering his age and decent appearance.

Jim and Matt had become fast friends in a day after bumping into each other at a local club where the college students frequented. Matt had been nursing a beer that afternoon to quell his sorrows and think about how he would approach his mother when he eventually got home. He had failed in almost all his classes and was given a choice to repeat the entire year or go home. He could not remember exactly when his life took a downward spiral. What he could clearly remember was that his mother had done the impossible to make sure he received a college education, but somewhere between the fraternity parties and female attention, he had lost sight of the reason he was in college.

Matt was never a dumb student: his high school record was sparkling merit. However, the fact that he was considered smart was probably the reason he was seated at a bar drinking in broad daylight. He had always told himself that he was smart enough to fix things before they got out of hand. Jim had watched Matt ruminating on his troubles for a while and approached him to find out what the matter was; he ended up sharing his childhood misfortunes growing up in an orphanage. A few days later, Jim had managed to convince Matt to drop the notion of going home to his mother with the unfortunate news that he was asked to repeat a year his mother could not afford.

On the eve of the journey east, Jim had requested Matt's assistance in delivering a particular package to a friend on the outskirts of the city. The two had set out in Jim's double-cabin truck and arrived at their destination a few minutes shy of midnight. Whenever Jim was asked what the package was and why it was being delivered to an abandoned site, he deflected the question. However, on the way back Jim opened up to Matt on his side business which he operated at the cover of the milk processing factory. Jim was involved in heroin which assured Matt was exceptionally safe as it is moved in the guise of powdered milk. Besides, according to Jim, Matt stood witness financial freedom for life in a year. It was an opportunity of a lifetime, and Matt had a few hours to sleep on it as Jim was to leave by noon the following day.

We all understand the extent a person can go to when faced with a desperate situation. As much as Matt was brought up with explicit knowledge of right and wrong, he could not help feeling that he did not have a choice. By morning Matt had packed a bag and written a painful letter for his mother which he was to mail on his way. However, before he stepped out, his roommate showed up with a note from the Dean of students that only said she wished to see Matt before he went home.

The very moment Matt received the Dean's note, he had a call for from Jim that they needed to leave in less than half an hour. There was going be little time to spate if Matt ran off to see the Dean; however, he went anyway. There was someone else in a private consultation with the Dean when Matt arrived, and he had to wait. There twenty minutes later and the person had not left. Jim called again and said it was now or never. Matt stood to leave but sat back down. A vision of his mother's sad, aging face had leaped into his mind's eye. The next time Jim called saying that was it, Matt found himself telling him he had decided to stay. It was an odd feeling that Matt experienced putting down the phone. But it felt right. It felt like something that would make his mother proud.

Three hours later, another professor left the Dean's office, and Matt was summoned inside. The Dean was surprised that he had waited that long at all. She had a talk with Matt about how he saw his future. In the end, the Dean got a glimpse of the smart young man who had only lost sight of the prize and decided to help him realize the kind of person he had always meant to be. Matt was offered another chance to sit some of the failed tests again in a short time. Matt had taken the chance wholeheartedly, and the outcome was terrific.

Everyone has a turning point in their life. It never has to be a distinct event, but sometimes it can just be a momentary decision that feels right. It never really matters where we are in at that point, so long as we recognize the need for a change, we all possess the power to make the change materialize. Matt never repeated the class after all, and by the end of the senior year, he was among the college's prized students.