Selfless Friends by Anish Yakkanti

I believe in my friends selflessness. Friends are the people in life that comfort us during hard times, they are the people who make us laugh and smile. Sometimes friends are closer to us than even our own family. I’ve known these things my whole life, but I never truly understood the true value of friendship until I moved to a new school. I’ve done many hard projects during school, but the hardest task for me, always, is making friends in a new school.

In the 2014-2015 school year, I was sent to a new school. It was hard for me to make new friends, but I met a kid named Jason after a couple of weeks. We had the same interests such as Minecraft, anime, and tech, but Jason was already in a friend group, and being a shy 4th grader I didn't even dare sit with them during lunch. I sat by myself during lunch, but everyday Jason chose to sit next to me instead of the other kids which he had known for multiple years. He introduced me to his other friends, and we got along well and even played in a park after school some days. I never really appreciated the things Jason did for me until I was older I easily could have been the “one shy kid with no friends” In my school, but Jason was selfless and sacrificed his time with the people he’d known for years to hang out with me.

Jason may have just been an extroverted 4th grader, but he changed my life. Now I’ve moved to a different school and have made many friends thanks to the lesson I’ve learned from him. Even though we live far away from each other I still make time in my week to play some Minecraft with him. Now I genuinely sympathize and care about my friends, unlike a little elementary kid who just moved to a new school.