Constrast Essay

                We were inseparable since we met in the eighth grade; we were the best of friends, even having the same first name.  Teachers always expected us to work on class projects together in middle school and even often referred to our duo as “Nick².”  I suppose that was their way of being humorous at the time.  Our mutual friends always expected us to be hanging out together and simply called us by our last names in an attempt to avoid confusion over who they were speaking to.  By all standards, you would think that we were in a lot of ways, alike.  Most would assume this fact since we were such good friends.  In contrast however, we were two completely different people with completely opposite personalities, appearances and initiative for work and school.  I guess that the old saying “opposites attract” held true in this friendship.
                You would stand Nick and me next to each other and probably think that there would be no possible way that we could be best friends, based on presentation and appearance alone.  I was the jock who enjoyed the rush of Friday night lights and he was the skater that enjoyed the rush of getting drunk in the patch of woods behind the football field during the game.  Nick fit the stereotype of a skater with oversized, baggy pants, an extra large Adidas T-shirt, long hair that was tucked into a backward sitting baseball cap.  In contrast, I would enjoy a pair of jeans and shirt that actually fit; the standard stereotype of a jock.  Nick never cared about his outward appearance to everyone else, where I felt (and still do feel) that people actually do judge a book by its cover.  By the way we dressed and presented ourselves to the public was actually the least of our differences though.
                We contrasted even more in our ideas about work and school.  In high school, I waited tables in order to put gas in my car and go out on the weekend.  Nick on the other hand, decided that it was easier to work for his father when he felt like it and just steal money from them when he didn’t.  I had the desire to graduate high school; Nick had the desire to skip school whenever possible and see if he could beat his record from the previous school years record on how fast he could get expelled.  I soon came to the realization that I needed to do something more with my life and joined the Marine Corps; Nick decided that he needed to stay the way he was and ended up as a guest of the state in prison. 
                Nicks personality was one that many did not understand.  He was abrasive and crazy, never caring for many other people besides himself.  I wanted to be friends with everyone I met and was always looking for a way to help others.    I often wondered if I was his friend or babysitter since I would often have to be the voice of reason, his” Jimmity Cricket” to keep him out of trouble.  I would always be the one who had to think about the consequences of our actions and about how they would affect my future.  Nick was an instant gratification type if guy, living for the minute and not caring about what the future may or may not hold.  We were opposites but also best friends.
                I haven’t seen Nick in quite some time.  He could never understand why I did not want to hang out with him when I was a Recruiter for the Marine Corps.  He didn’t understand that it was because of the fact that I had grown up, where he never did.    I ended up joining the Marine Corps and he ended up in prison.  I ended up getting married and starting my own family, he still lives in his parent’s basement at thirty years old.  I think about our childhood friendship often; about how much we had been through growing up and feel bad about not keeping in touch. I guess that even though we were best friends growing up, the differences in our personalities, appearance and initiative ended being too much.