earning respect

“respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.”

-Leo Tolstoy

Everyone has someone they look up to. And for me, that was my oldest brother Nick. He’s the oldest of my brothers, and in my mind he was the “coolest.” Whatever he did I followed, he was my role model. It was a important day for me at my camp. I was taking the archery test, I had to do it. It was one of the last possible days to get it. Nick was the archery instructor and he believed in me. I couldn't screw it up. I stood there looking at 4 archery targets, all different lengths away. I gripped my 25 pound bow so hard I thought it would snap. Camp ended it 3 days, I had to finish this last test. I started shooting, my stress was acting up, and I was shooting wild. Then Nick calmed me down. I was down to my last target. It was 25 yards away. I had to score a 35 out of 50. I pulled the bow back like it was feather took a breath and released. I kept doing this until my last arrow, I’ve been doing archery for an hour now and my hands were sweating. I had a 31 and just had to get a 4 or above. Nick comforted me telling me to just take a deep breath and take your time. I pulled it back, this time feeling pain like never before, I was so tired. I aimed and fired, I fell on the grass and looked up to see I got exactly a four. I gained nick’s respect, he was the best archerer in the camp I felt like he now trusted me, I proved him that I could be good like him. This story is really deep because I’ve wanted to pass this archery test and be like my brothers for years. And finally when I had the chance to, I succeeded. Nick’s encouragement and help pushed me to pass the test and prove to that I was great. The respect I give my brother is like no other. It feels like he is just the best and I should take him for granted. 

To earn respect you have to give respect.