The Nail

The person who gave me The Nail, said that it would protect against evil and witchcraft, and a whole bunch of other really bad things.

Why am I talking about The Nail? Because I had it driven through me yesterday. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Otherwise I would be dead, and that would make a lot of people angry. Not to mention breaking a lot of promises.

And speaking of promises, it is the promise that causes my dismay- and I wouldn't have it any other way. And the promise that I speak of is the one of friendship.

Now, before you starting ranting and raving "Oh no, not another one of those be friendly and be happy articles", wait a second. I'm not really talking about friendship, I'm talking about The Nail.

Everybody, in their own way, has one. You can get the protection from it (though I don't know if it protects against witchcraft- I haven't faced off against a witch yet), or you can forget about it, lay down on your stomach while reading a book, and have the thing jab you.

Friendship and love are like that- which brings up the complete story of The Nail. My Nail was forged in an October Weekend of 1991. I think I finally started to understand friendship that weekend; though it took one heck of a lesson for the idea to take hold. But take hold it did. I did not gain friendship- that was always there. What I gained was an appreciation of friendship and of love. And that, in a way, is more important than the friendship and love itself- how can you give friendship and love if you don't understand what they're about?

People go about and focus on the actual friendship/love being there or how to get it- but it doesn't mean a thing if people don't recognize it. And, once you do recognize it, you've just shot yourself in the foot. For you can never again truly be independent. The actions and the presence of other people will always affect your existence; things will flow more smoothly, things will be happier when these people are around as compared to when they are not. And when the people aren't around, things seem slower, harder, tougher.

The Nail. Just recently, Massey High School came to Waterloo for a University Tour. With the trip were many friends that I had made during my High School days, people that I missed seeing and talking to, and laughing with, and all the things that friends do. I spent a night and a day with them, and then watched the buses pull away.

I watched the faces in the window waving good-bye; and I felt The Nail hit me. It didn't matter that I'm going to see them in less than two weeks from the date I have written this; it didn't matter that I am confident of a future with these people- all that mattered is that the bus was pulling away, and I wasn't going along. I couldn't go along- as time rolls on, my future seems to be separating from everybody else's. Especially when I heard people talk about which universities they were going to: The Nail strikes again. My friends seem to be diffusing across the province and across the continent. But even if they are across the continent, I can hope that The Nail will protect them. Their's, and my own (nobody's given a range for this thing yet.) I'm sure that most everybody gets that same feeling watching people pull away from a Fall Rally or May Camp, whether you are in the middle of the group hug, or the outsider watching in. (And I've been in both positions, and The Nail feels the same.)

My Nail goes with me almost everywhere (excpet to hockey, where a well placed puck can cause major problems.), and it's a reminder. Of all The Nails; the choices we've made, the consequences we must deal with, and the benefits we reap.

The price we must pay.

And all the wonderful souls we meet on the way.