Who I Am

Reputations can make or break a person. They're very hard to get rid of and even harder to create a new one. Back in high school, I was this geek who was obsessed with WWE. No one really took me seriously in high school. Why should they? Hell, I wouldn't have taken me seriously if I was them. That was my rep in high school. I was the WWE dork. I've gotten better about that over the years despite the fact that I'm wearing a DX T-shirt that I bought in 2006. I admit that in high school, WWE was my life. That's not the case anymore. I could care less about what happens in the WWE today (unless Undertaker wins the World Heavyweight Championship). When I started my first semester in college, I was a whining, emo, bitch most of the time. That wasn't right either. My second semester, I was a little better, but I was becoming angry frequently. My third semester, I drove away a really good friend of mine. I'd follow her everywhere, call her way too often, I was a creepy little bastard. I'm not proud of any of this. I've apologized several times and it was accepted. However, something still doesn't seem right. I never really confronted the issue, but I can't run from it anymore. I started to evolve into the person that I wanted to be around my fourth semester at college. I got rid of my old rep and developed a new one. I became more understanding, I've earned respect, trust, and admiration from my friends. I stopped being so damn self-centered and started taking an interest in my friend's lives. I've always been there for my friends. I try to make everyone happy. Sometimes, it doesn't always work like that and I have to make a choice. I'm not perfect in any way, but there's no harm in trying. Some of my friends have told me straight-up that I'm the best. At first, I didn't believe them. After a while, I started to believe them. I'll go to war with anyone as long as they're worth it. I only hold grudges if you hurt the people that I care about. I'm not malicious, angry, or violent. I am egotistical, I will admit that one. However, I put my friends first. Who am I now? I'm the best friend anyone could have. Unless you do attack my friends, then I'm your worst enemy. Before, everything had to be about me. That wasn't right. Back in high school, I said that I'm not gonna change for anybody. The truth is that I didn't change for anybody...I changed for me. It's paid off for the most part. I feel a lot better now, than I did back then. I'm all about honor, loyalty, and respect. The problem is that those who knew me before, haven't noticed that I've changed. They have their guards up. I know that it'll take time to regain the trust that they've had in me, but someday, I'll get that trust back. The trust that people put in me, means more to me than anything. Things change, people change. There are a million other people that came from worse backgrounds than mine. They've turned themselves around. They didn't do it alone and neither did I. They had good friends who stood by them. I did too. I can't thank them enough. Even the ones who've done me wrong have helped me in their own way. It's because of my friends that I became who I am today. Someday, I'll return the favor. I'll end this with a quote from the "Shadow the Hedgehog" video game. "THIS IS WHO I AM!"