Nurturing Mask Excerpt from Angelos book: Believing… believing is a reflection of curiosity and imagination or so I’ve come to feel … It’s hot and if feels as if the humidity is at 100% … but I still have to do my run … all along country back roads where upon looking past the open stretches You’ll find grapes, berry’s like strawberries and cherry trees … I always measured by the fruit in how I’ll feel .. looking forward to that stop … seven miles in the jog/sprint and the first grape bush alongside of the road .. stop, sit under the bush to were the sun is trying to peek through and I consume two- three bundles … I’m up and running .. It’s a Saturday morning/afternoon and my coach said yesterday that I’ve qualified for the US Western Championships …. At seventeen I feel unstoppable …. Briskly walking through the hallways and attempting to get to my locker before the bell rings for class … Monday morning and I’m full of energy getting more excited to hit the gym later … As I approach my locker several guys are blocking the door as they talk amongst each other … I asked If the one nearest could move, because class started and I need my English book … all three began to block the door, I said, “forget it and started to turn around and jog to class which was three hallways across the open yard … and as I was crossing the grass just about to step onto the cement hallway … I remember looking up at the sky thinking .. “wow” it’s really blue .. but then I was like “what am I doing .. rolled over and realized I was knocked down .. rolled over the opposite way and I could hear an over in every direction laughter. Kids in class were standing in all windows.. little by little the windows were filling up with eyes ..I sit up and realize the guys were football players and as I looked down to get up .. I see a football at my feet …… I drifted back into that Saturday afternoon as I finished eating the grapes and felt rehydrated … I always stayed off the country roads and jogged alongside the dirt, no matter what got in my way I was running on the side … just turned the corner and hit the levee road … an open stretch of desolate raised road with no trees and only two farm houses in the four mile stretch that set half a mile deep off the road …. Always used this as a good sprint/jog but mostly sprints … no more than a ¼ mile into, I hear the rev of an engine .. knowing they would be coming close I ran on the opposite side of the road only to have them swerve onto that foot wide dirt strip. I leaped off the road and rolled down the embankment … hearing laughter as they drove away … I’m to my feet and I make it to woodshop only two minutes late …. Our teacher was a salty guy that wasn’t too fond of tardiness. As I stepped through the doorway he announced to the class that, “Mr. Nunez is late and will have to sweep the floor today.” Kool with me … as long as I don’t get on his bad side …. He was a wood chewing, stern looking faced man that had remnants of hearsay that he was in the Vietnam War. I grabbed my tools and started to work on a class project; building a wooden box ... I loved this class because He took no shit from anyone … If someone said something racist to Me he would send them to the office. But even I wasn’t protected because on several occasions he sent me up because I would challenge the bullies and He thought it was bullshit for me to get upset from the stupidity. Jump forward five years … a Saturday afternoon I was running the school’s track getting prepared for an upcoming professional bout … later in the afternoon about 2PM. It was a lazy day for Me being I arrived back at my father’s house around 2AM and I was exhausted. I would stay in a room that he had when I would visit him … felt comforting and I knew he wouldn’t let me take a break – which is why I was so late to the track … I kept making excuses not to run but …. As I’m in my ninth mile (32 rotations) I heard my name and it snapped me out of my dream world .. I could enter this realm easily when I ran, success and feelings of personal future accomplishments allowed me to depart from the physical. I looked around being the echo had to be chased .. it was Mr. Glass … the woodshop teacher … I ran around the loop and stopped by the fence between us … yea, use to get over the eight foot fence to run the track. We talked about what I’ve been doing, he’s read some articles in the paper and even went to a couple of my fights in town. We reminisced and he talked about instances where I was being picked on …. Never allowing me to feel protected or looked out after … he said, “No matter how tough it gets, keep that mask on … never let them inside and never give up.” He had shown me over the years as I attended his one class … the wooden sign above the door .. “You can enter but leave Your bullshit here before You do,” I could feel the wind on face, I could feel the sun’s touch, I started to believe in my capabilities … I began to …. Love the idea of believing
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 20:21:03 +0000
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