April 21-
Camp Short Round Application Essay #1 of 4
Being Arnold
Arnold Shortman
My name is Arnold Shortman, and I was raised by my Grandparents in the city of Hillwood, WA. My Grandparents own a boarding house, so I have many 'extended relatives' that I have no actual blood relation to. I feel that in the long run, it was better for me. My Grandparents were never exactly what I would call 'in touch' with the times, but I benefitted from the life experience of many people that I would not have had I grown up in a traditional house with a traditional family.
Most kids get dogs or cats, maybe even a rabbit or a hamster as a pet. I had Abner. He may have been a pig, but he was smarter than most dogs. He was so loving too, and could really understand you. He died a few years ago, but I spent the last month of his life camped in the backyard with him, just feeding him his favorite foods and letting him play in the mud as much as he wanted. Abner dying was hard on me, but I'm glad I was able to make his final chapter a good one.
If I had to describe what kind of person I was, I would say I was a diagnostic personality type, and the moral compass. I am the person that my friends come to when they need to make a decision- or when they have already made the wrong one. I listen to their stories, and simply state the facts back to them, and tell them to do the honest thing about it. not that I am perfect or anything, far from it. but it is far easier to be objective concerning others than yourself.
When we were younger, my best friend Gerald, and a bunch of kids from the neighborhood cleaned up an empty lot near my house and converted it into a baseball field. Sometimes we would play football there too, but we are a bit big for football on the lot now. But we do help the younger kids maintain it, so the lot can continue to be a safe and fun space. We aren't like the big kids before us; the kids that tried to bully the lot away from us after we had fixed it up. We hope that each group will help keep the lot for the group that comes after them. A good lesson for life as a whole; not just an empty lot. I have played sports since I was a kid, and I am currently on the baseball team at school. I was on the basketball team the last few years, but wanted to focus on art and writing a little more and now I just play basketball with Gerald in free time.