The Best Person I Know
There are few people I genuinely admire.
One of them is my friend Marko. We met in the first year of college and we are friends for almost 10 years. As we approach that important anniversary, I decided to dedicate a few lines to him, although whatever I write is not even a hundredth of what he deserves.
Marko is a very relaxed and funny, the kindest and most positive person I know. Whatever happens to him, he will turn it into something fun and positive. If someone tells him he has to sleep with a bunch of giant bugs, he’ll be like — well, let’s give that a chance, who knows what we’ll learn from it. Anywhere you throw him, he will manage or at least try to manage.
But not everything in his life is so positive and great.
He and his sister were abandoned by their father when they were children and he never wanted to know anything about them. Indeed, all kinds of people exist in God’s garden.
He lived with his mother, sister and grandmother in a small town. When he was in college, his mother fell ill and died of leukemia.
He had to find a job and earn a living. He couldn’t balance it with his studies, so he kind of neglected his studies. That’s why he lost his scholarship. However, he is determined to finish college. By the way, he has been working for years in a clothes selling shop. I don’t even need to mention that it has nothing to do with his career. He really wants to quit that job, but he needs the money.
In addition, my friend is gay and has been hiding it from his closest friends and family for a long time. He hid it from me for a while, but I think I was one of the first people in his life he told. Unfortunately, he never confessed to his mother.
I asked him several times what it was like to live a “double life”. In our environment, the gay community is not well accepted, so some decide to fulfill the form expected by others, start a family, be unhappy and make their spouses unhappy; others hide from everyone and lead two lives — one for the public and the other privately; others decide to get rid of shackles at any cost and live life to the fullest.
My friend is boldly moving from the second to the third group, taking control of his life. I can’t even imagine how hard it is. How terrible it is not to be accepted because of your sexual orientation.
He doesn’t let anything put him down. He doesn’t give up. He always sees the good in everything. He is a fighter.
Despite everything that has happened to him, he still sees everything in the best possible way and is always there to support, encourage and cheer others up. He always lifts everyone up, even though he himself needs some lifting. But, he never shows it. He is never in a bad mood for long. I don’t even think when he was in a bad mood for longer that 10 minutes. Positivity always prevails, I think that’s stronger than him.
I am so grateful to have him in my life. If there’s one thing I didn’t do wrong in this life, it’s that I made friends with him. Our friendship, shared memories and laughter hold a special place in my heart. I can be myself with and even more relaxed with other people when he is around.
He is an inspiration to me in various ways, he reminds me of what friendships should look like and that I should never give up.
If anyone deserves the best in life, it’s him.
Be like Marko.
At the moment when I was finishing this text, Marko called me and said that he got a new job. He is finally quitting his job as a shop assistant. Congratulations!
