Laws of Life--From a Very Wise Young Man

Cameron won an essay contest with this "Laws of Life" essay he wrote this year. He is somone who plays his cards close to his vest. It is hard to know what he thinks or feels about life. It has always been difficult to get him to share with us what's in his heart. I'm not sure what more can be said after reading his essay, except that we are truly blessed to be able to have this young man in our family and in our lives.

Has life been good to you? It seems that, whenever people are asked that question, they always look at the bad things that have happened to them, and never the good. They look at how bad they might be doing in school or job, or how much money they have lost in the failing economy. Never do they think of the difference they’ve made, maybe in the life of a child, how well off they are compared to others, how truly happy they are. And they would, if they would think of how many times someone has smiled at them today, thanked them, or just said how happy they are to know them.

I was at my friend’s house; it was time for me to leave. When my dad left to get me, he had left a plastic cutting board on the stove, which he had left on. The board had caught on fire, and flamed up, melting a lot of our kitchen, and making our house uninhabitable for the next 8 months. It was our second house fire in less than five years. After it, all our family could think of was how terrible it was, that we had to live in a townhouse. How much it would cost to repair it, what if someone was hurt? But looking back, it was almost a blessing. Before the fire, my mom had wanted to remodel the kitchen, but she didn’t know how we could afford it. But we got the entire kitchen remodeled for free, because of our insurance. And because we had a brand-new kitchen, when we moved we were able to rent out a thirty year old house at a price of a ten year old one.

That is mainly why people think of how bad off they are. It is because, however much we want to, we can never see beyond the now. We cannot see what the outcomes of something will be, whether they are good or bad. If we could, we would be so much happier.

When my parents first told me that we were moving to Tanzania, in east Africa, I was fine. But as the weeks ticked by, and it seemed that it was inevitable, that my parents weren’t joking, I started to mope. How could they do this to me? I was happy here, I had friends, and so are they, why did they want to move? And why to Africa? But moving to Africa might have been the best thing that has happened to me. It was amazing. It really opens my mind to the world, taught me so much, and helped me to develop into the person I am today. In Minnesota, I was pretty much no one. I was homeschooled, so I didn’t get to mix really with anyone. I only had four true friends, and I wasn’t really tight with them. But in Tanzania, I was somebody. With only 20 people in a grade, you can’t afford to push somebody out, to exclude them. I still didn’t have many friends, but for a while I was happy. And then we were robbed.

The night we were robbed, I clearly remember what I was doing. I was on the computer, searching up the lyrics to my new favorite song. I went to bed, and it seemed that I had just fallen asleep when I was woken up by my dogs growling, which scared me. They never acted like that. Then I heard my parents. ‘We know that you’re out there. We have called the police, and they are coming. Leave now.’ As the robbers demanded money, my mom woke me up and told me to get my brother and hide. As I did that, the robbers had gotten into our house, at least 8 of them in our house, with probably six more outside. They had huge pangas, or machetes, and probably would killed or seriously hurt my parents. They couldn’t find their wallets, so I grabbed mine and ran out to give it to them. It probably had a hundred dollars in it. So I got my brother and we hid in my closet. I don’t really remember anything else. We were saved by our neighbors, who we had called before they had gotten into our house.

This wasn’t the first time we had been robbed, but it was defiantly the scariest, and the worst. We had lost thousands of dollars in items. And that was the beginning of the end of our stay in Tanzania. We never lived in that house again. It just never felt safe. We stayed in a hostel for a while, and then got another house in town. But it was never the same. It was about four months after the robbery that I was told that we were going to move again, this time to China. And again, I was angry and sadder this time then the last. It was only one robbery. We could get over it, we could survive it. Please don’t make me move again. I couldn’t see past the present. I knew how happy I was, but I couldn’t see how amazing China would be, how much of a godsend it was.

And now I’m here, and I think that I’m happier than I’ve ever been. I am so much more different than that 11 year old, crying myself to sleep on the long plane ride from my old life to my new. I have more friends than ever. I think and act differently. I am, I think, a better person. And I am because, partially because of the good things that have happened to me, but mainly because of the bad. Without the bad, I would still be in America, just plain old Cameron.

So has life been good to you? I can say without a doubt, that despite all of the hardships and heartbreaks that I’ve had, that it has. And everyone can say that. Because no matter what, it has been. If nothing else, we have been blessed by God to be alive, to be His children, and to live in His grace. So when something bad happens to you, stop and think about that, and think about how you may be given opportunities that will change your life because of it. Because no matter what may happen, something will good will come of it.

Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but be an example for other believers in your speech, behavior, love, faithfulness, and purity. 1 Timothy 4:12