Andrew Tran

Mr. Shackett

ENGL-117

July 8, 2019

Good vs. Bad

In my point of view, I am a good person. To me, being a good person means helping

others and accept them for who they are, while keeping your own morals at the same high

standard. A good person should treat others the way they would want to be treated. However, a

good person is also someone who recognizes their own faults and does their best to improve

themselves. Every day, I do my best to keep up with my standards and morals, but there are a

few days where I commit bad acts that go against my morals. I am human and it is part of human

nature to do bad things; I am not perfect and so is anybody else because at some point in life, we

have all made mistakes. But if we can strive to fix our mistakes, we move closer to being a better

person in society. Moreover, Catholicism taught me that everyone is born with sin, causing

everyone to have evil intentions, but we can find the goodness of life through confession.

During the 7th grade, I was friends with a African American boy named Michael; we got

along just like good friends—maybe even best friends. But as we matured into 8th graders, our

thoughts began to unravel and became unrestricted by society: we cussed in our sentences, made

racist remarks, and caused trouble in every class. In engineering class and recess, we would joke

around and insult each other based on physical appearance and racial background. But as the

academic year drew closer to an end, the racial slurs and taunts began to spiral out of control to

the point where we wanted to hurt each other feelings. Our conflict finally boiled over during a
Friday lunch a week before school ended. At our lunch table, I took an open seat, not knowing it

belonged to Michael; when he came back, he ordered me to get out. Being the stubborn person I

am, I refused and consequently got into a tussle with him, where he attempted to strip me away

from the seat. Afterward, I was still in the seat and still quarreling with Michael when he finally

had enough and poured his chocolate milk onto my head. Shocked and fuming, I retaliated by

grabbing him by the shoulders and tossed him into another lunch group. Our lunch group, frozen

in shock and fear, sat in their seats quietly through the conflict and then went their separate ways.

Since this was during lunch, teachers were present on lunch duty and saw us fighting; therefore,

we got sent into the principal’s office and left with detention slips. With detention and an

upcoming weekend, I had plenty of time to reflect and come up with an apology for Michael.

That following Monday, I went back and told him that this conflict was all my fault and asked

him if we could ever be friends again; all he did in response was give me a blank stare and

walked away. Ever since, Michael and I have avoided each other throughout high school and at

other public events. I still believe that I am a good person because even though I have wronged

Michael, I reflected on my mistake and tried my best to fix the rift in our relationship.

From Michael’s perspective, he also thought the insults were just jokes and didn’t see

them as harmful in the beginning. However, as he felt my taunts dig deeper into his emotions, he

would desperately try to defend those attacks by responding with hurtful things directed back at

me. On the day when the conflict climaxed, Michael saw me taking his seat as unjust and

disrespectful because he thought I knew he was sitting there and took it to be selfish; he never

found out that I did not realize it was his seat. After not being able to physically remove me from

his seat, he was so furious that the only thing he was able to think of was harm me by slamming
his chocolate milk on the top of my head. The next day we met each other, Michael was open

enough to forgive for my actions, but never forgot what I did to him, causing him to avoid me for

the rest of middle school as well as high school. In his eyes, Michael still believes that I am not a

good person. I am still the same short-tempered, unthoughtful person that started to make fun of

his background based on stereotypes and physically harm him. In the end, Michael and I made a

huge mistake in our relationship which caused it to dissolve right in front of our eyes.

From all my experiences, I believe that I am still a good person, despite others denying

that claim. A good person is able to care for others and hold high standards; a good person

should also treat others the way they would want to be treated. Moreover, a good person should

be able to recognize their own faults and try their best to fix them, all while not blaming others.

Everyone at some point in their lives will sin and commit bad actions, but through reflection and

effort to correct our mistakes, we can become good individuals. After the conflict, I still believed

that I was a good person because I was able to recognize my faults and try my best to fix it. In

contrast, Michael believes that I am not a good person because he never saw a change in my

attitude and mentality and views me as the same person who insulted and physically harmed him.