Family Friend
As a child I grew up in a house constantly influenced by politics. My dad was a member of the Town Council and served on several boards. He was rarely home. On most nights he was meeting his friends somewhere to talk about pending issues and problems involving the town council. Every Saturday night my dad and his group of friends met at Peter Newcomer's cabin in the woods. That's how I met Peter. My parents where always urging me to get involved in our community. My dad's way of being involved was the town council, that's what he tried to impress upon me. He would bring me to their meetings on Saturday nights where I would only half pay attention because I wanted to be with my friends. Peter Newcomer was born in British Columbia. He earned his PhD in Anthropology at Yale University and also served in Vietnam. Peter moved back to Mansfield to live with Ayla Kardastuncer whom he was in love with. In Mansfield Peter built a log cabin where he hunted, raised chickens, grew marijuana, and lived out the rest of his life with Ayla. He was always the most involved and excited person at the meetings. He had the most liberal views on everything, which often caused clashes between him and other members of the group. No one e
ver walked out of the meetings; no matter how mad they were, because even if you didn't agree with Peter's opinions there was always something you could learn from him. In August of last year Peter and my Dad rode their motorcycles to Colorado during my dad's vacation. While they were sitting outside a restaurant in Manitou Springs, Peter had a sudden heart attack and passed away. When my dad came home he cried all night. My dad learned a lot from Peter also. My dad used to say "Every day I spend with Pete I learn something that really makes me think" Being a member of the community has always been an ongoing challenge for me. I see so much hatred, violence, and greed around me. I view some people's decisions as confusing and wrong so I try to think about what influenced them to think in that way. It depresses me to think about what is influencing these people because I always come to the same conclusion; People let money influence them even if it means detriment towards other human beings or the environment. Ever since I was about fifteen I noticed that I was slowly losing my imagination. In school I was being taught get yes or no answers to questions, instead of being taught to see all the angles and different views of a question. I was being taught to always seek self gain. I felt like something very personal was being stolen from me. During this time in my life I became v
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 939
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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