Response to Blog question #1

When at home, I always argue with my friends. This was not out of hatred or anger, but out of our beliefs and ideas. We all have a strong connection and bond that had stayed strong through even the confusing after years of high school, but we all have different opinions of how people evolve and the world functions. No matter what each other thinks, we have all learned to listen to one another and analyze the personal feelings we all have as individuals. Nevertheless, it has not always been this way.
Late nights have been a custom for my group of friends for a long time. We get together and either do something of an exciting value or we simply just sit around the house entertaining ourselves. No matter where we go, there is always a late night conversation that carries into the early hours of the morning. However, they are not the typical conversations that take place between a handful of twenty-year-old males. We trade talk of sports, women, and movies with topics of a more philosophical theme that correlates with religion, ethics, science, and so on. Everyone in the fold is thoughtful with a very loud opinion, but up until three years ago, I never had an opinion, so they thought.
My voice never carried. It's not that there was no opinion to give, it's that my opinion was never proclaimed. I am the youngest of the guys and at the time, I was the runt who kept quite and to himself. I was the little brother that was good for a laugh. When I tried to put my ideas on the table, they were never seen or heard. This lead to me zipping my lips and uttering not a sound for some time, but as I have grown, so has my confidence and mind as well. My beliefs started to come out, still without recognition. This was until I turned my presentation into a spectacle that couldn't be ignored.
Standing on a chair in front of them as they gathered in my living room, I shouted at them. I aggressively presented everything I thought and felt about the deep conversations I was missing out of. My voice was heard. They paid attention. I was listened to for the first time. Unfortunately for them, they also thought I was losing my mind. What they didn't know is that I was being completely serious, but was only trying to bring it to them in a humorous way by just seeming crazy. As I think of it now, it was pretty stupid, but I got my point across. Since then, I have grown with them, heard. We are now all better friends than we had ever been at the time and make our side heard and respected in every conversation. If there was ever a time in my life of giving a presentation that was more important than that one, I have no idea what it is.