The Growing of Sacrifice

The Sacrifices Made in My Life

An Essay by Harry Staley

Pine Point English

January 5, 2012

Have you ever made a sacrifice in your life that you were very proud of? I know I have, and I also know it can be a fantastic feeling. Ever since two summers ago I started volunteering at the Stonington Harbor Yacht Club. At first the work was hard, and very unpleasant, but after a week I got used to it and it became fun. It was a fantastic sacrifice of time, and I will remember it forever.

When I first started sacrificing my summer time for volunteering with four to six year olds, I absolutely hated it. The first week of volunteering at the Stonington Harbor Yacht club was the most awful experience I have ever had. It was a very hard thing to enjoy when I had little kids pulling on every part of my body, scratching every piece of unclothed skin, and hanging off of my every limb as if I were some type of human jungle gym. Every single kid in my class had at one point made me angry. The second week of volunteering, I knew I had to lay down the law. One of my students, Sadie Mae Scott jumped on top of me, and I exploded with anger and sent her to the corner for a time out, a very unpleasant place where misbehaved kids are sent to learn a lesson, where she started crying, apologizing, and begging for forgiveness. After sending this soon to be innocent child to time out, I realized that my summer had just changed. For the rest of my sacrificed summer, I was quite pleased with the kids, and I made a great group of new little buddies. When the last week of volunteer work rolled around I had a very strong bond with a few of my students. One of my students, Emilia Alpert, and I became super close and her mother told me that her daughter would like to marry me when she is older, and she did clarify that the age wasn’t a big deal. The more time I sacrifice, I enjoy sacrificing more and more.

Since the summer of 2010 I have been sacrificing my time with four to six year old children, teaching them marine biology. At first I hated sacrificing my time, but the more I sacrificed the more I appreciated it. The work I was doing with the kids really grew on me, and now I enjoy it. I love to sacrifice my time now, and I now know that no matter what you sacrifice, it will always be ok in the long run.