before (and after) the fall

As a kid, I always enjoyed exploring the through the woods. Finding deer tracks, building forts, playing hide and go seek —letting all my child adventures and innovations come true. Most of the time, I would have friends come with me and explore the vast forest that surrounded my house. It was all fun and games until people got hurt. One day, a really close family friend of mine that I had known since I was born came too my house and we went exploring. We found a big tree that had recently fallen. It was on a slant leaning on another tree — inevitably, we had to climb it. We got half way up the tilted trunk but it was getting to narrow to move onward. We realized that there was no way of turning back either (I do not recall why), but we were forced to try and jump off. The fall was about ten feet tall, but I spotted a good mossy patch that would break our fall. My friend was a little frightened but I convinced him that there wouldn’t be any problem. I jumped first and landed easily. When it was his turn, he took a bit of time to get ready but he finally jumped. I was confused, he let out a scream on impact but that did not make sense to me, how could it have hurt? Apparently he had landed on moss that was on top of a rock. I helped him out of the forrest because he couldn’t walk. It turns out that he broke his leg and had to miss the rest of his hockey season. It has been more than ten years since this happened but I still remember each and every detail of the event. At one of my leadership trainings at my high school back in Montreal, a key value to leadership and friendship in general is trust. The ability to show the reliability in your relationship. As a leader, it is crucial to show that when leading the way, you are guiding people down the right path, assuring their safety. This event is still clear in my mind because I still feel awful about breaking the trust with my friend. I assured to him that he would be safe, I persuaded him to follow and look what happened. In my defence, I thought it was safe, but that is not good enough. As a friend and leader, one must be certain that those following will not be harmed or misled. In friendship though, I do believe that the creation of memories and bonding is also vital. Adventuring through the woods with friends is undoubtably memorable. Leadership is always present in interactions, wether you may be he one led or the one leading, there will still be the role and the importance of the trust. Even though I feel bad about it, because I led him, as a friend I still remember the unforgettable time we had before he fell.

--Daniel