Wakeup Punch
I was an outsider in a small town — Plymouth, NH. Eeryone else in my eighth grade class had been born in the town and most would probably die there. Through no effort or intent of my own, I was both revered and reviled, though, at age fourteen, I wasn’t aware of that. I drifted merrily along, one day at a time, with no plans beyond the next day’s homework or the next pickup game of football or baseball.
One day as I walked across the school playground, the town bully, a high- school dropout, ran up to me and, for no evident reason, without saying a word, slugged me in the jaw. I collapsed in pain, but with no permanent damage, and he walked away.
A few weeks later, my parents gave me choice. Did I want to go to the high school in town or to the private school across the river? I was shocked that I had a choice. I had presumed I would stay with my classmates. Mom and Dad pointed out that the private school was much better and going there would greatly improve my chances of getting into a good college. At that point, I hadn’t given college any thought. My classmates were my friends. I was confident that I could do well at school in town, with a minimum of effort. Leaving would be a betrayal of them. And why should I dive into the unknown if I didn’t have to.
The next day, on my way home from school, I took a shortcut through a nearby field, and a seventh grader confronted me. I knew him by name, but had never spoken to him before. He blocked my path. When I tried to walk around him, he slugged me. One swing. I collapsed, and he walked away.
The timing mattered. I was on the brink of making the school decision. It dawned on me that I was an outsider in this town and always would be, and that people I didn’t even know resented me as an outsider. Maybe my friends as well.
I never told my parents what had happened. I simply told them my decision.
I’d like to thank that angry seventh grader. That wakeup punch changed the course of my life. I went to the private school (Holderness) and then to Yale.
I wonder where I am now in the alternate universe that branched from that moment.
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