Mark Twain and Me

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These are some of Twains most important defining events in his life, his father’s death, his steamboat career, and Mary Ann Cord’s tale. He has so many more that I cannot tell you about them all. How about I tell you about some of mine. I have not lived out all of my life so I do not have so many events to choose from, but I thought about it and found the three events in my life that changed me into the person I am today. They are moving to the U.S., finding out how my step-dad really acts, and my decision between elementary and middle school.

Let’s start off with moving to the U.S. My mom had remarried, because my dad died when I was three years old, to an American guy. I was five years old at the time we moved here and did not know a single word in English. My mom was an English teacher that is how she found an American guy. I do not remember anything of when we moved or how I dealt with it, but moving is an important event because Russia and the U.S. are two totally different worlds. In Russia there are not as many opportunities as in the U.S. the schools are harder and life is tougher there are more jobs, but less pay (Lintner). I am glad we moved and I believe my life is better today.

One thing that did not help me, but more scared me is in my life was my step-dad. He was a diabetic and did not manage his blood sugar very well. He was never nice to my mother or me and had episodes where his blood sugar was too high and he had seizures. He even hit my mom during one of these episodes and I was always scared that he might do the same to me when I was alone with him in that house and he did not correctly manage his blood sugar. There was a moment where he was sleeping on the couch and I went to see if he was asleep, and he wasn’t, as soon as I saw this I ran back into my room and closed the door I was so scared, I remember it like it was yesterday. I now am cautious of any guy that I don’t know and cannot get along with them as well as I can with women I don’t even have a single guy friend. I believe this ruined my relationship with men, but with work I can overcome it with time.

Last is my decision in between my elementary and middle school years. When I was in elementary school I was the tough girl and everybody was scared of me. They thought I would hit them and be mean to them. I was mean because I didn’t know how to act with the other children. In my last year of elementary school I decided to be nicer, but nobody actually thought I magically was a nicer person one day, everyone was still scared of me, and they ran away and I knew then, I had no friends at that point. Then I got into middle school where most of the kids did not know me and I decided I would start anew and be nice to everyone because I had no real friends and everyone ran away from me. That moment in my life changed me and I became a nicer person for the better. People are more open towards me now, and I have a better character, people now trust me. If I never figured this out I would have been a crueler person today.

Every person has moments in their life that change their path in life, whether they chose them or not. Like I chose to be a nicer person and Mark Twain decided slavery was not right. They change the person’s character and others notice. There are also things we do not chose that change us like when I moved to the U.S. and Mark Twain’s brother died in the steamboat accident. We both did not have a choice in what at that moment in our lives that event would happen. We all have moments that define us as human beings, what are some of yours?